BULLETIN OF THE 



No. 184: 



Contribution from the Bureau of Entomology, L. O. Howard, Chief, 

 Aprils, 1915. 



(PROFESSIONAL PAPER.) 



THE HUISACHE GIRDLER/ 



By M. M. High, 

 Entomological Assistant, Truck Crop and Stored Product Insect Investigations. 



INTRODUCTORY. 



The huisache tree is one of a variety of trees and shrubs horti- 

 culturallv called " wattles " and is probably a native of Texas, 

 although it occurs in Asia, Australia, and to a certain extent in 

 Africa. The flowers furnish the perfume known as frangipanni 

 and the plant is cultivated in southern Europe for the manufacture 

 of perfimie. The pods are valuable in tanning and dyeing and 

 the plant is used as an ornamental for the formation of hedges and 

 for shade throughout the Tropics. The bright yellow flowers which 

 are produced in abundance and are large in comparison with those 

 of other acacias render it one of the most beautiful of flowering 

 shrubs of this type. The tree reaches a maximum height of about 

 35 feet, with a trimk diameter of about 1 foot when properly trained. 

 The trunk is short, the branches somewhat drooping and wide- 

 spreading, forming a beautiful roundheaded tree with light-green 

 feathery foliage. 



The huisache tree [Acacia farnesiana) of the Southwest has a 

 number of insect enemies, but none is so injurious as a girdler 

 which often damages young trees in such a way as to eradicate them 

 for a t'me, completely severing them a few inches above ground. 



Dunng the summer of 1910, while the writer was engaged, under 

 the direction of Dr. F. H. Chittenden, in the investigation of in- 

 sects that attack the pecan, this insect, which may be called the 

 huisache girdler, first came under observation. It seemed advisable 

 to keep the species under surveillance in its attacks on the huisache, 

 since it was not known but that pecan trees in the vicinity might 

 become a center of attack at any time, for the reason that two 

 near relatives, Oneideres cingulata Say and Oncideres texana Horn, 



* OncUUrcH putator Thorn., a beetle of the family Cerambycldte. 

 Note. — ThlH bulletin contulnH a technical doHcrlptlon of an InHCct Infesting the huisache 

 trfe of the HouthwcHt. The form of Injury 1h (IIscuhhcO and raothods of control arc given. 

 70718''— 1.0 



