440 Injurious Insects. 
from the hitherto luxuriant appearances they presented, to one of 
premature decay — the fruit becoming shrivelled, the leaves with- 
ering on the stems, the bark discolored in spots and the branches 
exhibiting the very form and aspect of death. The insect which 
produces this malady has frequently eluded the scrutinizing glance 
of the most attentive observers, from its diminutive size and the 
smallness of the aperture through which it makes its escape. It 
has been named the Scolytus Piri, from the tree upon which it 
most usually breeds. It is about the tenth of an inch in length 
and of a fine deep brown color, the legs and antennee exhibiting a 
much paler aspect; the wing-cases are seen to slope off suddenly 
and in an oblique manner towards the tail, and are minutely 
punctured in corresponding lines. This will be sufficient to ena- 
ble any one to recognize this little depredator when investigations 
are properly conducted. 
The more minute details of the proceedings of this insect seems 
to be involved in some obscurity, but from those which have been 
observed it appears that sometime during the month of August 
the female places her egg beneath the bud, from whence it pur- 
sues its devastating march along its eye, through the alburnum, 
and so into the hardest portion of the wood; here, by a circular 
canal, it surrounds the pith, destroying the ascending sap-vessels, 
and as the heats of the season are on the increase, an unusual 
quantity of this fluid is required to descend and supply the place 
of that which has been lost by the rapidity of evaporation. It is 
supposed that by this copious drainage from above the wound, 
that the branch loses its vital principle, and so suddenly becomes 
dead. In this burrow it is that the insect passes through the dif- 
ferent stages of its existence to the perfect state, from whence it 
escapes to renew its ravages, some time either in the month of 
June or July. 
The remedy suggested is to remove the diseased limb immedi- 
ately below the wound, and have it speedily consumed, before the 
insect can escape : let it by no means be left upon the ground 
beneath the tree. 
Phyllapliaga Quercina. — In the spring of the year, during the 
month of May, by driving a spade into the ground where the 
grass appears most withered and unhealthy, we generally find 
•with the soil thrown up, a large number of thick, white grubs, 
with a scaly, brownish head, together with the more perfect in- 
sects. Of these latter, some may be seen to exhibit a soft, whitish 
appearance, owing to the superabundant moisture which their 
bodies contain, not having been evaporated by exposure to the 
light, and air. They are of a robust, form, nearly an inch in 
length, and when mature, of a chestnut brown color. Their wing- 
cases are finely punctured with ranges of small dots, as if im- 
