28 
The duration of the larval and pupa states has not been ascertained 
at present. In all probability eggs are deposited from December to 
April, and require but a short time for hatching ; the grub certainly 
remains in the trunk through the winter season, not emerging before 
September at the earliest, but whether it remains there more than one 
season can only be ascertained by further observation. Mr. Urquhart, 
under date the 16th August, states, “Some galleries end in an enlarge- 
ment or chamber communicating externally with a small breathing-hole.” 
This would indicate that boring operations in these cases were not 
completed, although many insects had attained the pupa-stage. It is 
probable that the lemon is infested by more than one species of borer. 
Two instances have come under my notice in which the gallery was 
driven transversely nearly through the branch, and the woody tissue 
excavated from each side without interfering with the bark, so that a 
shallow circular chamber was formed about three-quarters of an inch 
in diameter and one-tenth of: an inch in height, but the insect escaped 
observation. A branch injured in this way is broken even by light 
winds. 
PREVENTION AND CURE. 
In all probability the most efficient way of meeting the inroads of 
this pest will be by preventing the deposition of eggs, but at present 
the perfect beetle and its habits are quite unknown, so that further 
observation is necessary. : 
All wounds should, as far as possible, be covered with a thin film 
of tar or some other substance calculated to prevent the deposition of 
eggs. Branches attacked by the insect should be at once removed and 
destroyed, care being taken to cut below the extremity of the 
burrow. 
Probing the galleries with a fine-pointed wire and perforating the 
larvee would be found effective, and might easily be carried out when 
the insects are few in number. Mr. Campbell, manager to W. J. 
Hurst, Esq, M.H.R., Hurstmere, injects soft-soap dissolved in 
boiling water containing a little carbolic acid into the galleries by 
means of a syringe with a fine nozzle. He informed me that this 
mixture dissolved the larve, so that the outflow presented a milky 
pearance: A weak solution of caustic potash would prove equall 
effective. Possibly the perfect insects might be captured by suspend- 
ing pots containing treacle or treacle and honey amongst the branches, 
or even by smearing treacle on loose cloths. 
Trees extensively infested by borer present a somewhat straggly 
appearance, the branches being broken and partially denuded of leaves ; 
still fruit is produced in abundance until the energy of the tree is 
exhausted. The least amount of harm 1s caused when the boring is 
confined to the centre of a stout branch or the main stem, the greatest 
when the excavations are made immediately beneath the bark. When 
ne renin are numerous branches are continually broken off by 
the wind. 
