98 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



pear. Spraying for the protection of these latter is always 

 justified by results and late applications may also be service- 

 able in protecting foliage which had escaped injury earlier in 

 the season. Altogether too few realize the very limited time 

 during which work against this species can be prosecuted to 

 advantage and only occasionally do we run across a party who 

 appreciates what can be accomplished by thorough and timely 

 work. 



Bronze birch borer (Agrilus anxius Gory). This per- 

 nicious enemy of birch trees has continued its ravages here and 

 there throughout the State. It is particularly common in Roch- 

 •ester, Buffalo and vicinity, where numerous trees have been 

 destroyed and others are being killed. It is w^orse than useless 

 to leave an affected tree standing, since the borers in the bark 

 appear another spring and continue their destructive opera- 

 tions. There is nothing better than to cut and burn, during the 

 winter or early spring, all birch trees or portions of trees show- 

 ing the characteristic dying of the top, produced by the Opera- 

 tions of this flat-headed borer. 



Sugar maple borer (Plagionotus speciosus Say) . 

 Retiring though this insect may be in its habits, it is neverthe- 

 less one of the important enemies of our sugar maples. In- 

 vestigations last summer resulted in finding several magnifi- 

 cent trees at Fulton, N. Y. which had been seriously injured, 

 if not practical^ destroyed by this pest. At the time of our 

 visit July 13, the black, brilliantly golden marked, stout beetles 

 were extraordinarily numerous upon several trees, as is evi- 

 denced by our capturing 10 or 12 within 30 minutes. Never 

 before have we found the insects so abundant in a locality. 

 The beetles deposit their eggs in midsummer in slitlike gashes 

 here and there in the bark, particularly at the base of the larger 

 limbs, the sap flowing from the wounds usually producing an 

 oval, discolored area, which is frequently made more con- 

 spicuous by a few particles of borings hanging from a slender 

 thread. The young grubs may be found near the point of 

 entrance during the fall and early spring. The second year the 

 grub has increased materially in size and when full-grown 

 may make a transverse or oblique gallery just under the bark 

 and continue sometimes half way around a tree 18 inches in 

 diameter. This practically girdles the maple and is almost 

 invariably followed by the bark slowly dying on the affected 



