264 THE FRUIT GROWER'S GUIDE. 



ful to fruit trees on the Continent ; and in America a close resembling species, the Sun- 

 scald Beetle (Xyleborus xylographus), commits so much havoc that when a tree is 

 seriously attacked it is best to uproot it. The " Shot-borer " Beetle (Xyleborus pyri), or 

 pear-blight of the American growers, seems identical with the species first named, if, 

 indeed, the whole of the species mentioned are not synonymous. The term " shot-borer " 

 may popularly be applied to all the bark-beetles, but we believe it is chiefly used in 

 America to distinguish Xyleborus pyri or xylographus (the head resembling a small 

 shot) from the "flat-headed" apple-borer (Chrysobothris femorata). 



The male beetle is icV-inch long, and the female ^-inch, colour dark brown, nearly black, 

 head round, not narrow as is general in Scolytidee, lengthening into a snout-like beak ; 

 body cylindrical, slightly humped, with six legs, each four jointed ; the antennae 

 are clubbed. The beetles, after pairing, burrow through the bark horizontally to the 

 pith, or to the opposite side of the stem or branch, and from these the breeding galleries 

 are taken almost vertically up and down the stem. At the entrance to the tunnels, or 

 along their sides, the female lays a number of minute oval-shaped white eggs, and the 

 larvae, on hatching from the eggs in May or Juno, feed on the substance before alluded 

 to, and as they grow increase the size of the burrows. When full fed they become 

 pupae, and from these emerge as beetles, the tunnels being crammed with them in 

 the late summer and autumn. 



Fortunately " borers " seldom appear in quite healthy trees, but usually attack those 

 which are weakened by unfavourable soil, climate, or cultural treatment. Occasionally, 

 however, they prove injurious to young fruit trees, but the attacks on these may 

 generally be accounted for through there being no dying or dead wood in contiguous trees 

 wherein they can increase. All dead parts should be removed from trees preferably in 

 late summer and autumn, and be at once burned. When young trees are attacked 

 they should be dug up and burned. If the bark be taken off in June the pests may 

 be found in the burrows, the larvae thus exposed dying in a short time, or being speedily 

 taken by birds. Destruction of infested parts is, however, much the best remedy. 



As regards prevention, no plan equals the placing of dead trunks or pieces of wood 

 in new plantations as traps, especially in land cleared of scrub, hedgerows, or where 

 trees recently existed. The traps may consist of beech or oak, both notorious fungi 

 breeders, and much relished by Xyleborus. Branches of plum, another remarkable fungi 

 producer, of about f to 1 inch diameter, may be cut into lengths of 2 feet and stuck in 

 the ground, but larger pieces need only be laid on the ground. These should be 



