248 [ DISEASES OP THE PEAR TREE 



Considerable injury is caused to the foliage of the 

 pear in Italy by the larvae of Hyponomeuta padella L. 

 Smerinthus Titiae L. and 6\ ocellata L., and also of 

 Cafymnia pyralina View., Brotolonia meticutosa L., 

 Ocneria dispar Hb., Lasiocampa quercifolia^L,,, Porthesia 

 chrysorrhoea L., P. auriflua Fb., Bombyx Populi L., B. 

 lanestris L., and B neustria L. The leaves of the pear in 

 France, Germany and Italy, are also preyed upon by the 

 larvae of the following butterflies: Papilio Podalirius L., 

 Aporia Crataegi L., and Vanessa polychloros L. 



There are two beetles which are particularly inju- 

 rious to our pear trees. By far the most common of 

 these is Cerambyx Miles L. (^[.=kirda tal langias, kirda 

 mukrand). The beetle is 3 to 5 c.m. long, of a shining 

 black colour, sometimes shaded off to brown or rust 

 along the outer margin of the elytrae. Both male and 

 female insects have very long, jointed antennae like a 

 pair of horns. The male insect is often smaller than the 

 female, but has longer antennae. This beetle comes 

 out of its tunnel in the base of the trunk, in spring from 

 March to June, and is able to fly away for long distances, 

 but generally crawls up the stem, where it copulates. 

 The female insect soon comes down again to the base of 

 the trunk, of the same tree or of those in the neighbour- 

 hood, and proceeds to lay its eggs in the fissures of the 

 bark. One female may lay from 50 to 100 eggs, and as 

 a rule visits one tree after another, and Jays a few 

 eggs in each. The eggs are white, 2 to 3 m.m. long, 

 pointed at both ends. They hatch in a few days, and 

 the small white grub at once penetrates into the living 

 bark, and then into the cambium or zone between the 

 bark and the wood. There it remains for several months 

 until it reaches the length of i to i^ c.m. Up to this 

 stage the bark of the trunk hardly presents any sign of 

 the presence of this formidable enemy. The larva then 

 proceeds to tunnel deeply into the wood, and increases 

 in size rapidly. The tunnel is often tortuous, and always 



