THE OLIVE INSECTS OF CALIFORNIA 



53 



THE OLIVE BARK-BEETLE 

 Luperisinus calif ornicus Swaine 



Figures 8 and 9 



Though at present a comparatively unknown insect, this beetle 

 may possibly become one that must be reckoned with in the future, 

 if we are to judge by what little is now known regarding its work. 

 A few adults were first taken by H. A. Weinland, then Horticultural 

 Commissioner of San Diego Count}', in the Mission Valley near the 



Fig. 7. The branch and twig borer, Polycaon confertus Lee. Larva and adult. 



Enlarged. (Original.) 



city of San Diego on May 17, 1915, and forwarded to the writer with 

 the information that they were found injuring a living olive tree and 

 might prove to be a serious pest. Other specimens followed from 

 the same source on May 27 along with a piece of limb showing the 

 work of the beetle and containing, within the burrows, a few cocoons 

 of a hymenopterous parasite. On January 27, 1916, the present 

 Horticultural Commissioner, Mr. H. M. Armitage, sent in a large 

 number of the beetles as well as specimens of their work and a number 

 of the parasites mounted on slides. The insect proved to be new to 

 the university staff and they were forwarded to Mr. J. M. Swaine, 

 Department of Agriculture, Dominion of Canada, a specialist in this 



