36 



legs (see g), which are, however, somewhat rudimentary and of little 

 service to the creature as organs of locomotion. 



The beetle is slender and cylindrical in form, dark brown in color, 

 and clothed with grayish, somewhat mottled, pubescence. The antenna? 

 of the female are shorter, those of the male (illustrated at b) longer, 

 than the body; the proximal joints are armed with small spines. Each 

 elytron terminates in two small spines and the femora are unarmed. 

 The length varies from about a half to three-quarters of an inch. 



The pruning process is not always in itself especially injurious, but 

 the ultimate effects are apt to be more serious. The fallen twigs serve 

 as a breeding place for hosts of other wood borers, many of which are 



Fig. 11.— Elaphidion villosum: a, larva; b, beetle; c, pupa; d, end of twig excised, by larva from tree; 

 e, reverse end containing insect; /, same from side, split to show pupa within; g, leg of larva; 

 a, &, c, about twice natural size; d, e, /, natural size; g, greatly enlarged (original). 



injurious to timber. Among these are some which do not hesitate, in 

 default of an abundance of dead wood, to attack and injure living trees. 



LITERATURE OF THE OAK PRUNER. 



Early in the present century an account of this species was given by 

 Prof. William D. Peck in an article published in the Massachusetts 

 Agricultural Eepository and Journal, of January, 1819 (Vol. Y, pp. 

 307-313). In this article Professor Peck gave the main facts in the 

 insect's life history, bestowing upon it the popular name of oak pruner 

 and describing the species as Stenocorus putator. In later times this 

 species, together with E. parallelum, which is considered to be merely 

 a synonym, has received treatment at the hands of most writers on 

 economic entomology. Fitch, in his Fifth Beport on the Insects of New 

 York (pp. 17-24), furnishes an exhaustive article on the subject, dwell- 

 ing at length upon the supposed marvelous intelligence of the insect. 

 It is not within the province of the present article to discuss this latter 



