THE ORANGE AND FIG TREE BORER. 89 



CHAPTER LXXXI. 



THE ORANGE AND FIG TREE BORER. 

 [Bostryckopsis jesuitd) Fabr. ) 



Order : Coleoptera. Family : Bostrychidce. 



The subject of our plate is a hard black beetle, the 

 size of the insects shown in the drawing. The first 

 time I heard of this beetle doing damage to fruit trees, 

 the news came from Mildura, where the beast had 

 begun to play havoc with some of the orange trees 

 growing in the settlement. Since this time, however, 

 the beetle has started its destructive work much nearer 

 home, although there is no doubt about its being 

 plentiful in the native trees about Mildura and other of 

 the hotter portions of the State situations which one 

 may with safety term its natural habitat. Later on, 

 Mr. A. F. Thiele, the well-known orchardist and citrus 

 grower of Doncaster, Victoria, complained of some 

 borer beetle having commenced upon his orange trees ; 

 and, as Mr. Thiele has a great leaning towards economic 

 entomology, he very soon set to work to ascertain the 

 cause of the trouble. It was found that the larva of 

 some beetle had bored into the wood of the orange trees, 

 and then commenced the tunnelling work, as shown on 

 our plate. This pest will also attack lemons, figs, and 

 apples; and, on one occasion, a specimen of this beetle 

 in a single night bored through a stout cedar table, 

 through a carpet, and partly through a strong floor, 

 where I discovered the beetle still boring when opening 

 the office in the morning. It may be explained that 

 the specimen had been placed under a tumbler for close 

 observation, hence the beetle's haste to regain its 

 freedom. 



This is an insect which will have to be closely watched, 

 as, unlike the smaller Bostrychidce, its size and strength 



