Fruit Tree Beetle. 



477 



harm to plants, and it is almost unprecedented to see them 

 in quantities and seriously injuring trees in that season. 



The Pine Aphis attacks several species of firs, especially 

 the Scotch fir, but is not often seen upon deodars. It is 

 one of the largest of the British aphides. The wingless 

 viviparous female is brown in colour, and, according to Mr. 

 Buckton, there is also a darker variety. It has very long 

 legs, particularly the hind pair, and an extraordinarily long 

 beak or rostrum, with a spearlike point, with which it pierces 

 the firs at the base of the " needles," and extracts the sap. 

 Its body is covered with short hairs. Upon the needles of 

 the pieces of deodars sent for examination to the Board 

 little groups of fine white threads were seen, evidently 

 produced by these aphides. 



The most serviceable remedy would be to syringe the 

 infested trees with solutions objectionable to the insect, so 

 as to make its food distasteful. Nothing could be better for 

 this than the composition used for freeing hop plants from 

 their peculiar aphides, made by mixing 8 lbs. of soft soap 

 and the extract of 6 lbs. of quassia chips, to ioo gallons of 

 water. This should be syringed all over the trees by means 

 of garden-engines with strong pumps ; or, if the tree is too 

 high, knapsack machines for spraying may be used by men 

 upon ladders. This must be done very carefully, and the 

 syringing would probably have to be repeated. 



The Fruit Tree Beetle [Scolytus rugulosus). 



Several complaints have been received of injuries to 

 apple trees, caused apparently by the boring beetles 

 known as Scolytus rugulosus. The tips of the smaller 

 branches were almost honeycombed by the larvae, many 

 of which were found alive and active in the channels 

 made by the insects. It seemed that the larvae were more 

 fond of the soft bark, as they were more frequently found 

 there, than of the harder wood of the branches. Most of 

 them, however, were in bark that was decaying or nearly 



