3 
was not known as especially injurious about the District of Columbia, 
but at the present time it has become very abundant and destructive, 
whole orchards both of young and mature trees having succumbed to 
its ravages. 
Its known distribution includes Canada, all of the New England 
States, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, 
Virginia, West Virginia, District of Columbia, Ohio, Illinois, Michigan, 
Towa, Missouri, Kansas, and restricted localities in Texas, Alabama, 
and Mississippl. 
FOOD PLANTS AND NATURE OF INFESTATION. 
This borer is practically limited in its food to the apple and kindred 
woody plants. It is most injurious to quince and apple, and some- 
what less so to pear. It infests also crab apple and thorns of different 
species, mountain ash, chokeberry, and juneberry—in short, practi- 
cally all except one or two kinds of trees and shrubs belonging to 
genera included in the family Pomacez. The wild plants are its natu- 
ral food, but certain varieties, at least, although often inhabited by 
this inseet, are for some reason not so susceptible to its injury as are 
our cultivated trees. This species inhabits more particularly the base 
of the trunk of trees, often being found below the surface of the earth, 
especially in young nursery stock. It is to such trees that it is most 
injurious, for it soon works around the trunk, separating the wood 
from the bark, interfering with the flow of sap, and producing the 
effect of girdling, a result which is very apt to be produced even when 
no more than two or three larve occur on the same tree. Very fre- 
quently four or five larve dwell together in a single small tree and in 
a short time injure it quite beyond recovery. In old trees larvee occur 
somewhat higher up the trunk, in exceptional cases at a distance of 
several feet from the base or even, still more rarely, in the lower limbs. 
As arule, however, they are seldom found except within a foot or two 
of the base. Trees of all sizes are frequently killed or weakened to 
such an extent that they are unable to mature a full crop of fruit. 
The experience of many years shows that injury follows where 
grasses, weeds, or other rank vegetable growth are permitted to accu- 
mulate about the trunks of the trees, since the beetle, like all nocturnal 
insects, naturally seeks concealment, and the conditions thus afforded 
are most favorable for its attack on cultivated plants. 
*LIFE HISTORY. 
The beetles make their first appearance of the season late in May or 
in June, according to locality. During the night they come forth from 
the trunks of the trees in which they have bred, and at this time may 
be seen in flight. During the day they hide away in some secluded 
[Cir. 32] 
