148 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO THE PEAR. 



proacbed dodge quickly about from place to place, drop to 

 the ground, or else take wing and fly away. In common 

 with most true bugs^ they have when handled a disagreeable 

 odor. In the course of two or three weeks they disappear, 

 or cease to be sufficiently injurious to attract attention. 



It is stated that they deposit their eggs on the leaves, and 

 that later in the season the young and old bugs may be found 

 together. The young bugs are green, but in other respects 

 do not differ from their parents, except in lacking wings. 

 While they seem particularly partial to the pear, they attack 

 also the young leaves of the quince, apple, plum, and cherry, 

 as well as those of many herbaceous plants. 



Remedies, — First of all, clean culture, so as to leave no 

 shelter for the bug in which to winter over. When they 

 appear in spring, shake them from the trees very early in the 

 morning, while they are in a torpid state, and destroy them. 



No. 72. — The Oak Platycerus. 



Platycerus quercus (Weber). 



This is an insect belonging to the family of stag beetles, 

 which has occasionally been found injurious to pear-trees in 

 Illinois by devouring the buds. In the larval state it feeds 

 on decaying wood in old oak logs and stumps. It matures 

 and appears as a beetle about the time that the buds 

 Fig. 154. ^^ ^j^^ ^^^^ ^^^ bursting, and continues feeding for 



many days, completely eating out the swelling buds 



and the ends of the new shoots. 



It is a blackish beetle, of a greenish cast, with 



ribbed wing-covers, and nearly half an inch in 

 length. It is represented in Fig. 154. As this has hitherto 

 been comparatively a rare beetle, it is scarcely likely ever to 

 prove generally troublesome to pear-growers. 



