

Ill 



especially the white oak. Prof. Riley says he has also reared it from the 

 mountain ash, box elder, peach and pear, and that he has found the 

 larvae in the beech, plum and cherry, to which I can add, upon simi- 

 lar evidence, the hickory, and Dr. Le Baron says it also injures the 

 soft maples. 



Remedies. — As it has been quite clearly shown that as a rule this 

 borer only attacks those trees which have their health in some way 

 impaired, it follows as a natural consequence that keeping the trees 

 in a healthy condition is one of the best methods of preventing at- 

 tacks. Trees which are in anyway wounded, those which are over- 

 pruned, and those transplanted, especially if above the proper size for 

 such change, are all more liable to the attack of the borer than those 

 which are undisturbed. 



An excellent preventive is coating the trunk and larger limbs with 

 soap in the latter part of spring and the middle of summer, as it is 

 not only obnoxious to the female, but as it gradually runs down to the 

 roots in the form of soap-suds, it nourishes the tree and perhaps does 

 as much good in this way as any other. 



Whitewashing, painting with a mixture of soap, lime and Paris 

 green, applications of coal tar and of axle grease, injecting various 

 liquids into the burrows, plugging in camphor, running in wires, cut- 

 ting out with a knife, are some of the various remedies which have 

 been used, and Mr. Austin, of the firm of Austin & Co., Downer's 

 Grove Nursery, informs me that kerosene was tried in their nursery 

 last year with complete success against this borer, and without injury 

 to the trees. He expects to follow up the experiment, and will report 

 the result hereafter. 



As these insects are diurnal, it would be well for our horticulturists 

 to learn not only to distinguish the beetle, but also to know the time 

 when they deposit their eggs, which in this latitude is the last of May 

 and first of June. And, as I have elsewhere stated, "Where the perfect 

 insect can be caught let them be utterly destroyed, and that without 

 mercy." A few dimes, or what is better, a few appropriate books be- 

 stowed on careful children as a reward for the destruction of these and 

 other insect pests will not be in vain. Children are not slow in learn- 

 ing to distinguish species; a few times showing and noting the promi- 

 nent characters will enable them to distinguish them. 



Let the orchard or trees be properly cultivated and carefully pruned 

 when necessary; in other words, follow that course necessary to give 

 healthy, vigorous trees with natural smooth bark. 



Mr. Crotch in his check list of the Coleoptera of North America, 

 gives C. alabamse, Gory. C. 4-impres8a, Gory. 0. lesueuri, Gory. C. 

 fastidiosa. Gory. C. obscura, Lee. and C semisculpta, Lee, as varieties of 

 this species, wilieh varies much in size and depth of color. 



Spec. char. Imago. — This species is of a dark, dull, greenish color, 

 with a strong coppery lustre, deepest on the forehead and tips of the 

 elytra. The head is immersed in the thorax to the eyes ; the obtuse 

 front is clothed with fine whitish hairs, and is furnished with a pit 

 or depression for the insertion of the antennae ; on the top of the 

 head is a short, smooth, raised, black line. The thorax is wider than 

 it is long, its length being about equal to the with of the head; it is 

 convex and has a slight longitudinal indentation in the middle; is 



