260 
between five and six inches in diameter, and had been healthy and a 
prolific bearer until the insects attacked it. The branches are attacked 
as well as the trunk, and sometimes the tree dies from the top. Young 
trees just from the nursery become infested. Dr. Smith records one 
case in which a small tree was set out one fall, became infested the 
following summer, and was dead the next spring. The burrows are 
extremely long, and one of them which was measured exceeded eight 
feet. The beetle is known to occur throughout middle and southern 
Europe, and was originally described in 1790 by Olivier, who found his 
specimens on various kinds of fruit trees in southern France. Of late 
years, since 1890, it has attracted considerable attention in Germany, 
and has been ably written about by Mr. R. Goethe, Director of the 
Royal Horticultural Academy at Geisenheim.* He calls the insect 
"one of the most dangerous enemies to fruit trees," and expresses aston- 
ishment that it is not even mentioned in treatises on injurious insects. 
In Western Germany the adult beetles appear in June and July and 
deposit their eggs in the cracks or beneath the scales of the bark of the 
trees, apparently preferring the younger trees. The young larva eats 
its way through the bark and constructs there the strongly undulating 
galleries so characteristic of all tree-inhabiting larvae of the genus 
Agrilus. After two years the larva has attained full growth, and 
assumes the pupa state in an elongate cavity constructed a little deeper 
in the solid wood. 
Asa means of protecting trees against this Agrilus, Mr. Goethe rec- 
ommends the coating of the trunks with a thick layer of clay. He also 
found that' a mixture of clay and cow's manure applied to the trunk 
and older branches of infested trees not only kills the larva in their 
galleries, but assists the trees materially in their recuperative efforts. 
Dr. Smith finds that the insect was imported from Europe into a 
nursery in Union County, J., not more than ten years ago, and that 
it is already quite widespread in that State, probably also occurring 
in New York. 
SCORPIONS, CENTIPEDES, AND TARANTULAS. 
There has always been the greatest conflict of evidence among trav- 
elers in tropical regions as to the effect of the bite of the three classes 
of animals referred to in the above heading. The frequent introduc- 
tion of all three into the larger cities of the United States in bunches 
oi bananas and other tropical fruits brings the subject more or less 
prominently before our public. 
*The article is published in the Keport of the Academy for 1890-91 (1892), and 
reprinted in Entomolog. Nachrichten, 19, 1893, pp. 25-30. See also article by Puton, 
"L'Agrilus sinuatus destrncteur des poiriers" (Revue d'Entomologie, 2, 1883, pp. 
67-6.9), and Xambeu's " Moeurs et Metamorphoses d'lnsectes" (1. c, 12, 1893, pp. 
91-93). 
