242 Fiftieth Ebport on the State Museum 



Food Plants. 



This insect, so far as known, is mainly confined to the sugar maple, 

 while exceptionally attacking other of the maples. In New Jersey there 

 are very few maples where it was found, and in every instance the 

 beetles were taken on oaks. It was therefore thought that possibly it 

 may infest some^of the species of oak (Smith : loc. cit.). 



Natural Enemies. 



The only natural enemies of this insect recorded are various species of 

 woodpeckers. Dr. Packard mentions having observed them at work, 

 but he failed to indicate the species. Mr. Kirkland observed the hairy 

 woodpecker, the downy woodpecker, and the flicker feeding upon white 

 larvae taken from beneath the bark of infested trees. 



Remedies. 



Perhaps the best remedy is the cutting out or destroying the young 

 grubs while still within easy reach. By carefully examining the trunks 

 sometime in the early. autumn, the location of the recently hatched grub 

 may be easily detected by the indications stated on a preceding page. 



The trunks of the trees may be painted or sprayed with a solution of 

 soft soap and carbolic acid, renewing the application as often as it is 

 washed off by the rains. If this be done during the months of July and 

 August (the period of oviposition), the beetles will be deterred from 

 depositing their eggs in the trunks so treated and there will be no neces- 

 sity of searching for and digging out the young grubs later in the season. 



In maple sugar groves, Mr. Kirkland recommends that as much under- 

 brush be allowed to grow as will not be in the way of the sugar making, 

 as he has observed that the clearing up of the shrubbery has repeatedly 

 been followed by severe attacks of these borers. The beetles are sun- 

 loving insects which delight in sunny places and if there are few such 

 spots in a sugar grove, there would be less attraction for them. All 

 badly infested trees should be cut for fuel during the autumn and burned 

 before the time for the appearance of the beetle the following June. 



