150 



Elaphidion villosum — Fabr. The Oak-twig Pruner. 



This beetle belongs to the same group as the preceding ; is long 

 and slender ; the antennae of the males are longer than the body, 

 about equal to it in the females; it is of a dull bay-brown color, with 

 small scattered, irregular patches of graj'- hair; eyes semi-circular, 

 beneath the anterior corner of each is a smooth, oblique prominence ; 

 head not furrowed between the eyes ; thorax barrel shaped, not spined, 

 rough and punctured, some smooth prominences placed in a trans- 

 verse line in front of the middle; scutellum small, rounded, yellow; 

 wing-cases punctured with large punctures, two spined at the tips, 

 outer spines largest; length of the female over five-tenths of an inch ; 

 width, five-sixteenths. This species appears to be found throughout 

 the state, but not in great abundance. The larvae live in the 

 branches of the black and white oaks ; following the pith or heart of 

 the slender branch for some distance, at length, is severed and falls 

 to the ground. They appear here in the latter part of May and June. 

 Prof. Peck has given an account of the operations of the larvae of this 

 species : . 



"The perfect insect lays its eggs in July (in Massachusetts). Each 

 egg is placed close to the axilla or joint of a leaf stalk, or of a small 

 twig near the extremity of a branch. The grub hatched from it pen- 

 etrates at that spot to the pith and then continues its course toward' 

 the body of thetree, devouring- the pith and thereby forming a cylin- 

 drical burrow, several inches in length, in the center of the branch. 

 Having reached iis full size, which it does toward the end of the 

 summer, it divides the branch at the lower end of its burrow by 

 gnawing away the wood transversely from within, leaving only the 

 ring of bark untouched. It then retires backward, stops up the end 

 of its hole near the transverse section with fibers of the wood and 

 awaits the fall of the branch, which is usually broken off and precip- 

 itated to the ground by the autumnal winds. Branches of five or six 

 feet in length and one inch in diameter are thus severed by these in- 

 sects. By collecting the fallen branches in the autumn and burning 

 them before spring we prevent the development of the beetles, while 

 we derive some benefit from the branches as fuel." 



Elaphidion parallelxjm. Newm. (The Parallel Longhorn.) 



[Fig 24.] 



This species is so very similar in 



habits and appearance to the preceding 



that it is unnecessary to add anything 



further in reference to it than that it 



^* it is known to injure, very frequently, 



Elipiiidion pakai.i.eum, Newm.:— a, fl t, v i fTO n f n n ,J p * rpps v^f it 'i>* 

 larva; 6, twig split open, showing the en- tn 6 tWlgS 01 apple tiee*. let H IS 

 closed pupa: k, tin- .-eyered end of the thought by manv experienced fruit- 



t\vii. r : c. beetle; /, basal joints of the an- ° ,, J . , •' ' . , j , 



tennse, Bhowing the characteristic spines growers that, where not too abundant, 



at the tin of the third and fourth joints: +i, p 1iril nincr tViP^p <?npr>ip^ do is .IS often 

 ./. tip of elytron: d, r, f. a. ft, head, maxilla. lne l', 1 ^ nln 5 interspecies UO IS a.S OIIBU 

 labium, mandible, ami antenna of larva, beneficial aS lnjUl'lOUS. 



