100 DESTRUCTIVE INSECTS OF VICTORIA: 



Our plate shows the beetle, both sexes, as also the 

 wood bored and tunnelled by the larvae. The larvae 

 of the longicorn, or long-horned beetles, remain in the 

 wood for a great length of time, sometimes feeding in the 

 timber for several years, so that it is small wonder that 

 the damage done is so great. Fortunately, however, 

 these borers leave well-marked indications of their 

 presence in the tree, the sawdust-like material, when 

 falling from an infested tree, always helping to draw 

 attention to the mischief going on within. The larvae 

 are "fat" yellowish grubs, and are eagerly sought after 

 by the black cockatoos especially, as these fine birds, by 

 means of their powerful mandibles, are able to tear off 

 not only the bark, but also large splinters of the wood 

 of the tree ; the black cockatoo being one of the most 

 useful of Victorian grub-eating birds. 



In a former chapter I have stated that most of the 

 longicorn beetles, upon emergency from the pupa, ascend 

 the tree ; and although T. mastersi is so great a scourge 

 to many of our forest trees, it is singular that so few 

 specimens are to be captured in the ordinary way, although 

 occasionally a specimen or two may be taken from under 

 the bark of the trees, both in the saplings and in the 

 adult stage. Another fine species, T. hamata, is now 

 comparatively rare in Victoria, and, for the sake of some 

 of the native trees, we trust it will remain so. 



So far, but few of the native longicorn beetles have 

 left their natural food for that of the orchards, although 

 numbers of our indigenous beetles have done so. We 

 must, however, be on the alert, as the larvae of beetles 

 of the type above described, would, when they attacked 

 them, make short work of our fruit-trees. 



Prevention and Remedies. 



Prevention, in the case of forests, is impossible or next 

 to it ; but in the early sapling stages some spraying 

 with kerosene would certainly act as a deterrent. All 

 limbs showing signs of infestation should be cut off and 



