158 ANNUAL REPORT. 
curculio is. single-brooded. I donotknow how many species thovetire 
of this insect, but they are certainly numerous. Ihave observed with 
much interest one in particularthat preys upon the leaves of ourcom- 
monwhite elm. I should not say upon the leaves, but between their 
surfaces, in such a manner as to make the leaf to wear the 
ance on portions of its surface like the combs of the chicken cock. 
Tae most effectual remedy against the curculio is the jarring pro- 
cess. Eternal vigilance is the price of good plums, and upon the 
first appearance of the crescent mark get a sheet and spread under. 
the tree, and with a board and mallet jar the tree; the Little Turk 
falls off and is easily captured, for he packs his trunk and would 
fain make you believe he is a dead plum bud. That the tree may 
not be injured by the jarring, it is better to saw off one of the 
lower limbs, leaving a short stub to strike on. 
The next insect that I shall bring to your notice is the Bostrichus 
(Amphicerous) bicaudatus—order Coleoptera, Family Ptinidae—or 
apple twig borer, which many of you, no doubt, have observed, very 
much to your disgust. 
It is a very common insect, and is a dark brown beetle, not more 
than two-fifths of an inch long; the thorax’is rounded and rough, 
punctured—and especially is this the case toward the front, where 
there are many rasp-like prominences. It is almost a cylindrical 
beetle, the thorax so covering the head as to be scarcely discernible, 
and the elytra so completely overlaping the abdomen as almost to 
conceal it, and terminating with (especially in the male) two little 
horns, from which this insect received its specific name, bicaudatus 
—two-tailed. In its larval state this insect is entirely unknown; 
observations, however, are being made with a view to ascertain its 
metamorphoses. You are all familiar with its work, and I need not 
now claim your attention further on its mode of operations. 
The best method of destroying it is to watch for its presence, 
and with a wire inserted in the passages, crush them; or cut the 
infested branches off and burn them. I will mention one thing 
more. Dr. Le Baron, of Illinois, says that all the larva of the genus 
Bostrichus are genuine wood-borers—and this may be—but this 
bicaudatus eats through the bud into the pith, and this in its imago 
state. 
An insect somewhat similar is often injurious to the grape vine— 
not so long, is not bicaudatus, though it has the rough thorax and 
imbedded head. There is certainly no one ignorant of the fact that 
during its season we have the squash bug, Coreus tristis, but ama- 
teurs must not confound this insect, which is of a dirty brown color 
on its upper surface, and of a dirty yellow ochre color beneath, with the 
striped cucumber beetle, which belongs to the sub-family, Galerucidae 
species, Diabrotica vittata. Insects belonging to this sub-family are 
for the most part distinguished by the nearness with which their 
antennz approach each other at the point of insertion, often being 
as near together as the first joint, and the antenne perfectly filiform, 
the thorax is not so broad as the elytra, and often, though not al- 
ways, similarly colored. 
Lhe great family Chrysomelidae, of which our Diabrotica vittata 
is one species of a sub-family, forms a remarkable exception to in- 
