RELATION TO THE FARMER 267 



in roots like the blackberry crown borer and the grape 

 root borer; while yet others feed in the centre of a 

 stern, like the currant borer or lilac borer. Among the 

 Pyralid moths there are numerous borers in herbaceous 

 plants and among the Noctuid or owlet moths there is 

 quite a series in which the boring habit is well devel- 

 oped; such plants as potatoes, tomatoes, corn and 

 wheat being among the victims. A few are twig borers 

 on trees, like those working in the terminal shoots of 

 peach and plum. 



It is among the Coleoptera or beetles that boring 

 habits are especially well developed. There is almost 

 no sort of tree or plant among our cultivated species 

 that is not more or less infested by coleopterous borers 

 of some kind, and in a very general way that same 

 assertion might be made of all trees and plants. So 

 general is this habit that except in the predatory and 

 scavenger forms, there is scarcely a series that does not 

 have some sort of boring species included in one or 

 more of its families. The Longicorns and Buprestids 

 are almost all borers in woody tissue; among the 

 Rhynchophora or snout beetles there are numerous 

 borers in herbaceous plants and a goodly representation 

 that works in woody tissue. Apple, pear, quince, peach, 

 plum, nut and citrus trees are all more or less subject 

 to attack, and grape, blackberry and other vine and 

 small fruits are equally apt to be infested. Potatoes 

 have weevil borers in the stem, many grasses have 

 similar borers in the roots, and even cabbage has its 

 leaves and stem more or less riddled. Among the 

 tree borers there are two rather well-marked types 

 represented by the round-headed and flat-headed bor- 

 ers. The former quite usually do most of their work 

 in solid tissue, the latter are more apt to make channels 

 in the bast or between bark and sap-wood, getting into 



