52 FOURTH ANNUAL REPORT OF 



It is a modest looking dark brown insect, varying from l-5th to 2-5th8 of 

 an inch in length, the thorax rounded and rough-punctured, especially in front 

 where it is produced into tAvo little horns, and covered with small rasp-like 

 prominences. The wing-covers are also rough-punctured, and while in the 

 female (Fig 24, a) they have but a slight keel-like elevation at the hind 

 end, they are furnished in the male (Fig, 24, b) with two little horns, from 

 Avhich characteristic the specific name (two-tailed) is derived. The species 

 is not mentioned by Harris, and does not occur on the Atlantic seaboard, 

 but is found in the whole country between the Alleghany and Eocky 

 Mountains, becoming more and more common as we progress westward, 

 and being most common in the States immediately west of the Mississippi. 

 Its range southward is at least as far as Texas. 



The holes made in the twigs, generally have their entrance just above a 

 bud or fork as at Figure 25, c. I have never known this insect to bore more 

 than one and a half inches into the twig (Fig. 25, d), and the holes are gen- 

 erally made downwards, and in wood of the previous year's growth, though 

 I have seen them exceptionally bored upward and in three-year-old wood. 

 The beetles seem to prefer some varieties, such as Benoni and Red June, to 

 other varieties of the Apple, and though they likewise occur in grape, pear 

 and peach stems, I have never found them in those of the crab apjjle. 



Both the male and female beetles bore these holes, and may always be 

 found in them, head downwards, during the winter and spring months. 

 The holes are made for food and protection, and not for breeding purposes. 

 Indeed, common as this insect is, its preparatory stages are«entirely un- 

 known, and that person who will ascertain its larval history, will confer a 

 favor on the community. I have bred a very closely allied species (Sinoxy- 

 lon hasillare, Say), which not onl}^ inhabits the wood of apple trees, but is 

 found in that of peach and hickory trees and in grape canes. Its larval 

 habits, which I shall presently illustrate, will throw some light on those of 

 our Apple-twig Borer. 



Indeed, according to Mr. S. H. Kriedelbaugh, of Clarinda, Iowa,* Doth 

 sexes of this last have been found in compan}' during the winter, in the 

 sap-wood of "forest trees;" and though we are not informed as to the par- 

 ticular kind of forest trees, yet, since the Oak is the most common in our 

 forests, we maj- infer that this tree is intended, among the rest. The proba- 

 bilities are, therefore, that our Twig Borer breeds under the bark of oak 

 trees, and that it is in such situations that we must search for its larva, f 

 That it so breeds in the forest and not in the orchard, is rendered still more 

 probable when we consider that its larval habits have so long evaded de- 



* Western Pomologist,'No\ . '71. 



t It may, and doubtless does, breed in other kinds of wood besides oak. I have often found the 

 beetles- boring into grape-canes for food and shelter, with no other indications of breeding in 

 thena, than we find in apple twigs similarly bored. Dr. Henry Shimer, in a communication to the 

 American Entomological Society, in September, 1868, speaks of finding them in grape-canes, and he 

 also found certain larvje in such canes, which he conjectured were the larva? of bicaudalus . But, 

 notwitht.tan(ling Dr. Packard (Guide p. 472), in speaking of the species, briefly describes its larva 

 which he received from Dr. Shimer, it is evident that the latter gentleman has given no proof of the 

 soundness of his conjecture, and, as he informs me by letter, he cannot now find his notes on the 

 subject. And since, so far as it goes, tlie description accords with the larva of Sinoxylon basillare, 

 Say, which, as I shall presently show, inhabits grape-stems; the probabilities are that Dr. Packard's 

 description was, in reality, from this last named species. 



