INSECTS Al'KIXTINt; I'AKK WD WCIODLANI) TREKS 20I 



tliffcrcnt species of oak in ami arounil Mailison W is., were seriousl)' affected 

 by this l)orer whicli causetl the death of isolated trees and groups of trees. 

 He also noted what appcart-d to \n- the same trouble at different points 

 through Ohio, W^isconsin ami Indiana, and later in West Virginia observed 

 a number of trei's dying in the same manner. lie found the larvae mining 

 the inner bark and outer sapwood and from his obs(;rvations was led to 

 believe that the insect was capable of attacking and killing healthy oak and 

 chestnut trees. Two years later he states that this species was responsible 

 directly or indirectly for the death of a great quantity of oak and chestnut 

 timber not alone in West \drginia, but in different sections of the country 

 between there and the Mississippi river. Prof. C. W. Johnson in 1896, 

 found that the red oak near Natrona, Allegheny co., Pa., were dying at the 

 top, and examination showed that the bark of the living portion of the tree 

 near the top was a complete network of Agrilid burrows, probably this 

 species, scores of larvae being found in the inner bark. Mr W. H. Har- 

 rington in the same year, records taking this insect on beech, and expresses 

 the belief that it infests this tree. This beetle was the subject of an 

 extended notice by Mr ¥. H. Chittenden in 1897, and from his account 

 many of the following facts are taken. He records injury to chestnut trees 

 by this species in Botetourt co., \'a. in 1891, and the following year to 

 chestnut in the District of Columbia. His attention was called in 1893, to 

 serious injuries in Virginia in the vicinity of Washington D. C, and inves- 

 tigation showed that this insect had inflicted considerable loss. He states 

 that the chestnut was almost universally infested and that the majority of 

 the trees had been recently killed. The damage was estimated at about 

 50^, and Mr Chittenden further states that a similar condition existed in 

 neighboring forests of the surrounding region. 



Life history and habits. This species operates just under the bark of 

 the tree, making galleries which run mostly across the grain, and when 

 completed are from 6 to 10 inches in length. The result is that a tree 

 seriously infested is very quickly girdled. The larval galleries were 

 observed by Mr Chittenden from the base of the tree well upward toward 

 the top. 



