92 DR. HARRIS’S REPORT. April, 
much more slender than the other larve of this genus, and are found 
in the stems of the tall blackberry and other species of Rubus. Ro- 
ese] has described and represented the transformations of an Euro- 
pean insect closely resembling these, which also lives in the interior 
of the stems of some kind of bramble, 
In Stenocorus the body is slender, the head nutant, or forming an 
oblique angle forwards ; the antenne are long and spiny ; the thorax 
approaches to an orbicular form, and is frequently armed at the sides 
with spines or tubercles ; the apex of the elytra is emarginated or 
notched, and toothed or terminated with spines. 
Stenocorus cinctus, our largest species, is said to inhabit the hick- 
ory, in which the larva perforates long galleries in the direction of 
the fibres. 
Stenocorus putator, or the oak-pruner, so named by Prof. Peck, 
inhabits the white and black oaks. The egg is laid at the origin of 
a bud or small twig, near the extremity of a branch; the larva pene- 
trates at that spot to the pith, and then continues its course towards 
the body of the tree, thus forming a cylindrical perforation several 
inches in length in the centre of the branch. Having reaclhied its full 
size, which it does towards the close of summer, it divides the branch 
at the end of its burrow, nearest the body of the tree, by eating it off 
transversely from within, leaving only the ring of bark untouched. 
It then retires backward, stops the end of its hole near the transverse 
section with fibres of the wood, and awaits the fall of the branch, 
which is usually broken off and precipitated to the ground by the au- 
tumnal winds. The leaves of the oak are rarely shed before the 
branch falls, and thus serve to break the shock. The pupa state 
takes place in the branch, and the perfect insect is disclosed from 
the middle of May to the first of July. ‘These insects are noctur- 
nal, like most of the capricorn beetles, and frequently enter houses 
in the evening. J have repeatedly seen branches lopped by the 
larve, which were nearly an inch in diameter, and five or six feet in 
Jength, the transverse section being almost as regular as if made by 
asaw. It is evident that this kind of pruning must be injurious to 
the trees, and should be guarded against if possible. By collecting 
the fallen branches in autumn, and consuming them before spring, 
we prevent the development of the perfect insect, while we derive 
some benefit from the branches as fuel. 
