156 



MONTANA EXPERIMENT STATION, 



THE BRONZE APPLE-TREE BEETLE, i 



This beetle, so far as we arc informed, is confined to the North- 

 western States and its economic sta.tns is not fully d..''< rmnied. ]Mr. 

 F. H. Chittenden has given us a good account of what is known re- 

 garding the pest, in which he calls attention to various complaints 

 regarding- it from \\"ashington and Oregon.- Professor C. V. Piper 

 formerly from Pullman, Washington had sent specimens to Mr. 

 Chittenden reporting serious damage to the apple industry of Wash- 

 ing ton. The same gentleman later reported that his ftrst suspi- 

 cions regarding the weevil had been much allayed by tlic discovery 

 of the fact that its injuries were apparently secondary l^ the fungus 

 disease known as "canker" or "blackspot". 



In an orchard near Missoula an assistanr. Air. Jones, found last 

 summer specimens which on being submitted to Dr. Howard of the 

 Bureau of Entomology proved to be this beetle. The owner of 

 the orchard is very jealous over the freedom of his trees from pests 

 a:ivl has repeatedly sent this office specimens for ideni'licrdir.n. The 

 "canker" disease has not yet been detected in his orch.ard though the 

 beetle in question is fairly abundant on his trees. 



These facts cannot be considered as evidence that the beetle is 

 secondarv to the fungus disease yet they point in the oposite direc- 

 tion. To the writer it seems possible that the fact that Prof. Piper 



Fig. 5. The Bronze Apple Tree Borer: a, adult weevil dotted portion of size 

 line showing length of snout; b, larva; c, pupa — six times natural size. (Chit- 

 tenden, Bulletin 22, New Series, Div. of Entomology, U. S. Dept. of Agr., 

 1900). 



1. Magadalis acncsccns Lee, 



2. Bulletin 22, N, S. Div. Ent., U. S. D. A., page 39. 



