178 The Farm Woodlot 



These busy little fellows sometimes start a second brood 

 in July and even a third one in October. If the leaves 

 are stripped off a tree two or three times for a couple of 

 seasons, it dies. 



To destroy these beetles, spray the underside of the 

 leaves with arsenical poison early in spring, or spray 

 kerosene emulsion on the pupae on the ground or lower 

 trunk of tree. There is no effective remedy in the forest. 



Bronze birch borer 



The adult of this beetle (Agrilus anxius) is a beetle from 

 T \ to | inch in length and olive-brown in color. The pupa 

 is white, slender in form and about J inch in length. The 

 larva is a grub f inch long, and a creamy white with 

 black mouth parts. 



This insect is very common throughout the North, es- 

 pecially where the cut-leaf birch is plentiful. It has played 

 havoc with thousands of birch trees in our parks and 

 lawns and has, in a few instances, attacked the white birch 

 in the forest. Unless a careful lookout is kept, the dam- 

 age is accomplished before the cause is located. The 

 surest sign of its presence is the dying of the top branches. 



The beetles appear in the early summer, the eggs are 

 laid and the larvae enter the tree in the fall and winter 

 under the bark in the upper branches of the tree. With 

 the warm weather in the spring, they begin burrowing in 

 the soft cambium. Their presence may be traced by 

 lightly reddish welts or streaks on the bark. Their 

 galleries are sinuous, irregular and much interlaced. They 

 pupate in May. 



In a woodlot the only practical remedy is to cut down 



