3 
Immediately on my return from the horticultural meeting last 
December, Mr. Marten was sent on a trip through the southern 
art of the State, to make a careful field study of the work and 
istribution of the fruit bark beetle in the principal fruit-grow- 
ig districts. His notes of the trip are given here somewhat 
ullv as bearing upon the following important questions: Hoes 
his fruit beetle attack perfectly healthy trees, or has it the 
abit, quite common among borers, of selecting by preference 
hose already diseased? Can these injurious insects be now ex- 
erminated in Illinois either by co-operative or compulsory 
tieasures? 
At Villa Ridge, on the grounds of Mr. E. J. Ayres, two peach- 
rees were found affected,—not as yet very badly damaged. 
)ne of these trees was, however, partly dead from some other 
ause. The affected plum trees (Chickasaws) on Mr. Endicott s 
dace had been imported from New Jersey in 1888,“ and were 
>elieved to have been attacked in 1885 or 1886. when two or 
hree years old, but the insects themselves were not detected 
mtil 1887. Plum-trees from Texas were next infested, and also 
t few peach-trees adjacent, probably by beetles from the New 
fersev stock. All these trees having been cut down and burned, 
ione*of the fruit beetles were then to be found in the immediate 
dcinity. Elsewhere on the same premises, however, a Mariana 
hum injured by a wagon in spring was completely riddled, and 
jeemingiv healthy trees likewise showed a few punctuies. One 
lead tree full of holes contained no beetles. 
Four additional places were visited at \ ilia Ridge, in which 
)lum-, peach-, and cherry-trees were found infested. The work 
>f the beetle was also recognized in peach-trees cut down the 
fear before, but these contained no larvae at the time. I wo 
rigorous peach-trees which showed the characteristic perfora- 
:ions very thickly placed, did not have the bark undermined, but 
:hese trees had bled very freely, the gum having run down the 
:runks to the ground in considerable quantities. It would 
seem from this observation, supported by a section of the 
trunk brought to the office, that the peach-tree may repel the 
jeetle, or prevent the hatching of its eggs at least, at some 
times and under some conditions, by a free exudation of its 
gummy sap. 
At Anna, in Union county, this pest was found abundant and 
destructive, infesting the plum, in which the larvae varied in de¬ 
velopment from half to full grown, occurring also in the cherry, 
even down to twigs under a quarter of an inch in diameter, 
and, on the farm of Mr. Fuller, badly infesting large Ben Davis 
apple-trees, either dead or dying. The condition of these trees 
and the amount of injury by the bark beetle gave the observer 
the impression that the trees were damaged before the insect 
attack. Several peach-trees were also attacked on these prem- 
* As the beetle had been reported from New Jersey some ' ears before, it is very liUfly 
that it was brought in these trees to Mr. Endicott’s place direct from there. 
