which are bijurious to vegetatio7i. 229 



very short, and, with the first, are covered with punctures and very minute 

 hairs ; the following rings, to the tenth inclusive, are each furnished, on 

 the upper and under side, with two fleshy warts situated close together, 

 and destitute of the little rasp-like teeth, that are usually found on the 

 grubs of the other Capricorn-beetles ; the eleventh and twelfth rings are 

 very short; no appearance of legs can be seen, even with a magnifying 

 glass of high power. The grub, with its strong jaws, cuts a cylindrical 

 passage through the bark, and pushes its castings backwards out of the 

 hole from time to time, while it bores upwards into the wood. The larva 

 state continues two or three years, during which the borer will be found 

 to have penetrated eight or ten inches upwards in the trunk of the tree, 

 its burrow at the end approaching to, and being covered only by, the bark. 

 Here its transformation takes place. The pupa does not differ much from 

 other pupas of beetles ; but it has a transverse row of minute prickles on 

 each of the rings of the back, and several at the tip of the abdomen. 

 These probably assist the insect in its movements, when casting off its 

 pupa-skin. The final change occurs about the first of June, soon after 

 which, the beetle gnaws through the bark that covers the end of its bur- 

 row, and comes out of its place of confinement in the night. 



Notwithstanding the pains that have been taken by some persons to de- 

 stroy and exterminate these pernicious borers, they continue to reappear 

 in our orchards and nurseries every season. The reasons of this are to be 

 found in the habits of the insects, and in individual carelessness. Many 

 orchards suffer deplorably from the want of proper attention ; the trees 

 are permitted to remain, year after year, without any pains being taken 

 to destroy the numerous and various insects that infest them ; old orchards, 

 especially, are neglected, and not only the rugged trunks of the trees, but 

 even a forest of unpruned suckers around them, are left to the undisturbed 

 possession and perpetual inheritance of the Saperda. On the means that 

 have been used to destroy this borer, a few remarks only need to be made ; 

 for it is evident that they can be fully successful only when generally 

 adopted. Killing it by a wire thrust into the holes it has made, is one of 

 the oldest, safest, and most successful methods. Cutting out the grub, 

 with a knife or gouge, is the most common practice ; but it is feared that 

 these tools have sometimes been used without sufficient caution. A third 

 method, which has more than once been suggested, consists in plugging 

 the holes with soft wood. If a little camphor be previously inserted, this 

 practice promises to be more effectual ; but experiments are wanting to 

 confirm its expediency." 



Omitting the insects of the second order, we next meet 

 with some old but very disagreeable acquaintances in the 

 third order. Hemiptera, the Squash Bugs, which, though 

 smelUng like " an over-ripe pear," weconcur with the author 

 in adding, " but far too powerful to be agreeable." 



" In order to prevent the ravages of these insects, they should be 

 sought and killed when they are about to lay their eggs ; and if any escape 

 our observation at this time, their eggs may be easily found and crushed. 

 With this view the squash-vines must be visited daily, during the early 

 part of their growth, and must be carefully examined for the bugs and 

 their eggs. A very short time spent in this way every day, in the proper 



