30 



THE PRACTICAL ENTOMOLOGIST. 



Fig. 8. 



The banded Borer. {Ccranphorua cim-tua, Drury.) 



0-V IIlCKOnV AFTEIt IT IS FELLED 



Almost everyone lias some time or other been annoyed 

 at finding a choice sticli of hickory Tvood, wliich had 

 been laid aside for some special purpose, badly "powd'cr- 

 posted," as it is called. But probably not one out of a 

 thousand such persons have the most 

 distant idea, as to what manner of in- 

 sect does the mischief, and some per- 

 haps do not even know that the da- 

 1 mage is done by any living creature, 

 I and attribute it to a certain mysterious 

 linlluence exercised upon the wood by 

 [some of the planetary bodies. At all 

 events, I knew an old Pennsylvania 

 Dutchman who believed tarmly to the 

 day of his death — in spite of all my 

 arguments to the contrary — that if 

 hickory wood was cut in a particular 

 state of the moon it would never "powder-post," but if 

 cut at any other time, itwould "powder-post" infallibly. 

 What was the right time of the moon, he did not profess 

 to know himself, and he allowed that he had cut hickory 

 wood both in the new and in the old of the moon, and 

 found it ''powder-post" badly. Still, that there was 

 some particular time of the moon so benignly favorable, 

 that hickory cut at (hat time would last forever without 

 "powder-posting," he had the fullest and firmest belief; 

 and, as is often the case with wiser men, who allow their 

 faith to overmaster their reasoning powers, it was useless 

 to try to argue him out of his belief. 



The figure given above shows the perfect beetle, that 

 lays theeggon the hickory, that produces the boringlarva. 

 •which, and not the moon, is the real author of the well- 

 known " powder-]>ost." This larva closely resembles, in 

 its general appearance, that of the "Two-striped Borer," 

 but, unless my memory deceives me, it has six minute 

 legs. In any case, if it has not such legs, it ought, accord- 

 ing to established entomological rules, to have them; 

 otherwise it would be as anomalous a fact as the larva of 

 the " Painted Borer" (Fig. G) being legless.* 



Reasoning once more from analogy, I should infer that 

 it would be a very useful precaution to soap or grease 

 early in June, wherever there is either sapwood or bark 

 left by the saw, hickory wood which we desire to pre- 

 serve from this borer. Our western wagon-makers gene- 

 rally have a considerable stock of this valuable lumber 

 laid up to season, and sometimes have a good deal of it 

 spoiled or damaged by " powder-post." For although, 

 according to Dr. Harris, this insect is rare in Massachu- 

 setts, it is very common in the Valley of the Mississippi. 

 After the lumber has been worked up and well painted, 

 there is no longer any danger, except from such larvse as 

 are already inside; but it is perfectly possible for an axle- 

 tree, which is to all external appearance sound, to contain 

 enough larva; to ruin it in si.\ months. It occasionally 

 happens that, even before a carriage leaves the shop, one 

 or two of these larvie bore right through the paint to the 

 surface, either for the purpose of pushing out their cast- 

 ings or of alTording a commodious passage to the perfect 

 beetle. "Whether a new axle-tree or a new shaft is then 

 put in, or whether the holes are plugged up with paint 

 and putty, is one of those Masonic mysteries which the 

 outside world knows nothing of. So abundant is the in- 

 sect near Eock Island, that in a lot of hickory pea-sticks, 



*I find that it i-cally has legs. — Jan. 2b, 1S06. 



enough to make about four good-sized faggots, which I 

 had some years ago preserved through the winter, I found 

 in the following spring several hundred larvie, from some 

 of which I bred not only great numbers of the perfect 

 beetle, but also a large iclineumon-fiy, (the Mcnochorua 

 fuKcipennis of BruUd,) which is parasitic upon them, and 

 no doubt helps to prevent their exorbitant increase.* 



There are several other borers that infest the hickory 

 in small numbers, some attacking the living tree and 

 some the felled timber; but as they are by no means abun- 

 dant, at least not in this neighborhood, it has not been 

 thought necessary to refer to them particularly. 



To many persons, perhaps, the damage done by such 

 puny spoilers as the above will seem too insignificant to 

 be worth taking into account. It is, in reality, a mere 

 flea-bite, when compared with the gigantic drains upon 

 the purses of cur citizens, made by the Hessian Fly, the 

 Cureulio, or the Chinch-bug. Still it amounts to some- 

 thing quite considerable. Let us look a little into the 

 statistics of the case, and we shall soon satisfy ourselves 

 that it is so. There are in the town of Eock Island, 111., 

 three old, established firms for the manufacture of wa- 

 gons and carriages, which were all of them in full opera- 

 tion in ISi'J, when the last U. S. Census was taken, be- 

 sides several new ones which have been established since. 

 I have consulted the principals of all these three firms, 

 and they estimate the average total value of the Hickory 

 lumber annually consumed by them in their regular bu- 

 siness at J9T5, and the damage annually done to it by 

 "powder-post" at from to to 20 percent. Now in 1S59, 

 in the whole county of Rock Island, there were, in addi- 

 tion to these three city firms, ten country firms, the united 

 business of which, estimated from the number of hands 

 employed, just about equalled that done by the three city 

 firms. Hence we may put the total of Hickory lumber 

 annually consumed by wagon-makers in the whole county 

 at -SlDJO. Put the annual damage done to this lumber by 

 the Borer at 171 per cent., and the result is $341. 2j. But 

 this is only the damage done in a single county of a sin- 

 gle State. Upon enquiry, I find that the "powder-post" 

 is pretty uniform in its operations, not only throughout 

 the State of Illinois, but even in the New England States. 

 We may, therefore, as Rock Island county is a fair ave- 

 rage county, not remarkable for any undue excess of wa- 

 gon-makers, find the damage annually done by this Hick- 

 ory Borer to the wagon trade, throughout the whole State 

 of Illinois, by merely working the following simple Rule 

 of Three Sum : — As the population of Rock Island county 

 in lS5y (21,005) is to the population of the whole State in 

 1859 (1,711,951), so is the damage annually done in Rock 

 Island county (.$341.25) to the required damage annually 

 done in the whole State. The quotient is $27,812.58. It 

 foots up, does it not ? And yet this only includes the da- 

 mage done by this one particular insect to one trade, in one 

 State out of the thirty -six, and is exclusive of that done 

 in other mechanical departments, and of that done to 

 wagons and carriages after they have passed into the 

 hands of the consumer, which, as several wagon-makers 

 assure me, is something quite considerable. 



Suppose now the State of Illinois were to determine to 

 expend $5,000 in the attempt to prevent, or at all events 

 to palliate, this loss. This is probably at least ten times 



*Brulle has wrongly refern'd this species to the genus 

 Mexoi horns. It belongs in reality to a new and exclu- 

 sivly American geiiu,^ allied to Xoriilcs stuA Odontomerus, 

 which at some future lime I shall describe under th« 

 name of Caiyacus (Hickory dweller.) 



