90 DESTRUCTIVE INSECTS OF VICTORIA: 



enable it to do irreparable damage in a short space of 

 time, as a tree badly attacked by this pest speedily 

 becomes past all hopes of recovery. 



Beetles belonging to this family are among the worst 

 of tree pests, the genus Rhizopertha being responsible 

 for a vast amount of damage, and of which that caused 

 by our tiny apple-tree borer is a good example. An 

 allied group, the Sc&lytid&, are fearfully destructive to 

 many of our finest trees, and especially to elms ; but in 

 Victoria it would appear, from what I have observed, 

 that the two groups before-mentioned are not nearly so 

 destructive as are the Longicorn beetles, nearly all of 

 which are, while in the larval stage, wood-feeders. 



In attacking the orange and other trees, the female 

 beetle deposits her eggs just below the surface of the 

 bark. When the eggs are hatched, the young larvae 

 soon commence to eat their way into the wood, and, 

 when fairly inside, tunnel into the tree mostly 

 longitudinally, as shown on our plate. 



This, to Victorian growers, is quite a new pest, but 

 in Queensland and some of the hotter parts of New 

 South Wales it is a fairly common insect. 



Mr. Froggatt, in one of his many able papers on 

 various Australian insects, calls this pest the " Augur 

 Beetle," and if we are to judge the beetle on its merits 

 and past performances, the name is a most appropriate 

 one. 



Hitherto it appears to have been an open question as 

 to whether this beetle attacks growing trees, or only 

 those which are either dying or dead. I can vouch for 

 their attacking living trees ; and it is the ' ' dying-off ' ' 

 appearance of infested branches which indicates the 

 presence of the borer within the trees. 



Prevention and Remedies. 



As prevention is better than cure, a sharp lookout 

 should be kept for the perfect insects of this formidable 

 pest. Smearing the trees with tar-impregnated grease, 



