U. S. D. A., B. E. Bui. 94, Part I. F. I. I., December 31, 1910. 



INSECTS INJURIOUS TO FORESTS AND FOREST PRODUCTS. 



DAMAGE TO CHESTNUT TELEPHONE AND TELEGRAPH 

 POLES BY WOOD-BORING INSECTS. 



By Thomas E. Snyder, M. F., 

 Agent and Expert. 



OBJECT OF PAPER. 



It has recentlj- been determined through special investigations 

 conducted principally by the writer that serious damage is being 

 done to the bases of standing chestnut telephone and telegraph poles 

 in certain locahties by the grub or larva of a wood-boring beetle, 

 here called the chestnut telephone-pole borer." The character and 

 extent of the damage under different conditions of site in several 

 localities have been determined, and poles treated with various pre- 

 servative substances have been inspected to compare the efficiency 

 of both chemicals and methods of treatment. These investigations 

 have resulted in the determination of practical methods of preventing 

 injury to poles by wood-boring insects. 



HISTORICAL DATA. 



The first information of serious damage to standing chestnut poles 

 by wood-boring insects was conveyed in a letter, dated December 

 15, 1906, from E. O. Leighley, a correspondent of this Bureau, 

 reporting damage to telephone poles in Baltimore, Md., by borers. 

 Mr. A. B. Gahan, assistant entomologist of the Maryland Agricul- 

 tural Experiment Station, College Park, Md., who investigated the 

 injury to the poles, stated that it was the work of a borer and was 

 located just beneath the surface of the ground, ilr. Gahan brought 

 specimens of the work and the insect to this office. The borers were 

 identified as cerambycid larvae, and later were determined to be the 

 chestnut telephone-pole borer (Parandra irunnea Fab.). 



On December 16, 1906, Mr. H. E. Hopkins, division superintendent 

 of a telephone company, stated that the poles in West Virginia were 



a^Parandra brunnea Fab.; Order Coleoptera, Family Spondylidse. 

 79012°— Bull. 94, pt 1—11 1 



