THE APPLE-ROOT BORER. 



CHAPTER XXXII. 



THE APPLE-ROOT BORER. 



(Leptops Hopei. Schcenh.) 



Order : Coleoptera. Family : Curculionidce. 



We now come to one of the most destructive arid 

 serious insect pests of the colony. The "Apple-root 

 Borer" belongs, as stated in Part I. of this Handbook, 

 to the great family of the weevils, and is one of the 

 largest and best known of the Victorian species. It is, 

 so far as I am aware, indigenous to Australia, and was 

 described more than fifty years since by that great 

 entomologist and specialist in this family, Schoenherr. 

 More than fifty species of this genus have been described 

 in various scientific publications as being found in the 

 Australian colonies. 



As this insect has been so recently described as a 

 destroyer of apple trees, &c., it is considered unnecessary 

 to do more than simply state some additional facts 

 bearing upon matters of importance which have lately 

 been noticed, and which must, of necessity, prove of 

 great value and assistance to fruit-growers and others 

 interested. 



In Victoria, as has been previously remarked, this 

 insect is fairly common, but it is only lately, and after its 

 habits had been accurately noted, that its occurrence in 

 such large numbers, judging from its apparently rapid 

 rate of increase, has been observed. 



At page 72 of the Handbook (Part I.) it is stated as 

 my opinion that I suspected the female to deposit her 

 eggs beneath the soil, and near the stem of the tree. 

 Since then, however, and owing to observations made at 

 my request by Mr. Geo. Powell, a fruit-grower at 

 Castlemaine, in our colony, who has been good enough to 



