SHOT-BORER BEETLE. 
98 
been considered to be one of our rarest species, although on the 
Continent it has been recorded as occasionally doing enormous mischief 
to various kinds both of young orchard and forest trees. 
The injury is caused by the beetles driving their tunnels, so as in 
the case of quite young trees to partially ring them, and also to clear 
out an inch or so of the central pith ; in the older, though still far 
from full-grown trees, the borings were not so regularly placed, but 
still, from their large number, they interfered with the passage of the 
sap and did great harm. 
The first information I had of this beetle was sent me early in 
September from Toddington, where it had then been newly observed; 
but later on, that is, early in December, I had information (with speci¬ 
mens accompanying) of this same beetle having been present for three 
years, and doing serious damage in a locality near Kidderminster; 
also that it had done much harm at Hartlebury (a village about four 
miles from Kidderminster), and also that it was present at another 
farm in a different direction, about seven or eight miles from Kidder¬ 
minster. 
From these notes it is to be feared that the beetle has established 
itself far too widely for it to be stamped out easily, but (where known 
of), from the peculiar nature of the attack, it might very likely be pre¬ 
vented ; and it is worth notice that in Germany it has often been found 
to disappear as suddenly and unaccountably as it made its first 
appearance. 
The first observation of its presence was sent me from the Tod¬ 
dington Fruit-grounds on September 1st by Mr. Charles D. Wise, who 
reported as follows:—“I enclose a portion of the stem of a young 
Plum-tree, in which you will see a small beetle, which has bored its 
way into the wood, and killed the tree. We are losing several trees 
from the same cause.” 
On examination I found that the cause of the injury was the 
“Shot-borer” Beetle (as it is called in America). These beetles are 
of a pitchy-brown or pitchy-black colour; the wing-cases are of a 
redder brown in the male than the female. The fore part of the body 
behind the head is granulated; the wing-cases have alternate rows of 
fine punctures, with flat spaces still more finely punctured, and some¬ 
what hairy. The horns are clubbed at the ends, and, as well as the legs, 
of some shade of yellow or reddish tint. 
The great peculiarity of these insects is the difference in shape and 
size between the male and female (the disparity ), from which the 
beetle takes its name of dispar). The female is about the eighth of 
an inch long, narrow and cylindrical, with the thorax (the fore body) 
large in proportion, and raised in the middle so as to make a kind of 
hump. The male is only about two-thirds of the length of the female, 
