150 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



the longicorns or long-horned beetles, are good representatives 

 of a numerous and highly injurious class of insects. All of 

 these attack, in a not dissimilar manner, the fruit, forest, and 

 shade trees. 



One of the most hurtful parasites of the peach is the Buprestis 

 divaricata, a burnished, coppery beetle, of elliptical form, with 

 wing covers, which spread apart at the tips, measuring about 

 four-fifths of an inch in length. This insect attacks also the 

 wild cherry, and sometimes is found beneath the bark of the 

 common cultivated varieties. The largest species of the group 

 inhabiting the United States is found quite commonly in New 

 England, preying upon the different species of pines, and aver- 

 ages over an inch in length. The first specimens on record 

 were received from Virginia, by an English collector of insects, 

 Dru Drury, who described and named it from this circumstance, 

 Buprestis virginica. The beetles of this class may be readily 

 distinguished by their compact and more or less elliptical form, 

 their short, stout feet, and their short, saw-toothed antennae. 

 They are in general of a brilliant metallic lustre, and some of 

 our own species, as well as in a greater degree those of tropical 

 countries, resemble precious- stones, from the wonderful beauty 

 and variety of colors with which tliey are adorned. The long- 

 horned beetles are very numerous in their species and forms, but 

 can scarcely fail to be recognized as belonging to the borer family, 

 by any one who has devoted a few weeks, even, to the collection 

 and study of insects. Some of the most insidious enemies of 

 the pine-tree belong to this class, and two or three of our New 

 England species have antennae of three and four inches in length. 

 The largest species known is found in South and Central 

 America, and frequently measures from the tip of its fore feet to 

 the end of the abdomen, ten or twelve inches. We do not 

 dwell at any length upon these borers, because the mode of 

 attack and the signs of their presence in trees are so much 

 alike that the means of destroying them need be but little 

 varied. Pcrliaps one of the little group of bark beetles has 

 made a lodgment beneath the bark of our apple-tree, and per- 

 forated it with numerous little punctures, as if made with a 

 pin. On removing the bark, which is easily done, for the little 

 creatures have almost separated it from the wood, we find an 

 infinity of small cylindrical burrows, running between the bark 



