December, ’24] 
YOTHERS: TREE CRICKETS INJURING PRUNES 
661 
of creosoted cedar and lead plate, the latter 3.5 mm. in thickness. 
The larvae, evidently a Callidium, had matured in the cedar and 
worked out thru the lead, storing the lead borings in the mine behind it 
just as if they were wood borings. The two emergence holes in the lead 
plate measure 4 by 10 mm. and 4 by 5 mm. This latter looks as tho the 
insect may have failed to get thru. The hole is 9 by 6 mm. on the inside 
and 4 by 5 mm. on the outside. The lead borings resemble pellets more 
than shavings, they range in size from one to four-tenths of a millimeter 
in diameter, many distinctly show the marks of the mandibles. 
Another case of a beetle, evidently a Buprestid, penetrating lead was 
brought to my attention, some two years ago, at Portland, Oregon. In 
this case the insect emerging from a pole encountered a lead covered 
cable running down the pole to pass under a railroad. The lead sheath 
was one-quarter inch thick and the beetle gnawed a groove in the side of 
it one-quarter inch wide and about three-sixteenths inch deep, this en¬ 
abled it to escape—at the same time the hole did not penetrate entirely 
thru the cable. 
TREE CRICKET INJURY TO PRUNES 
By M. A. Yothers, Yakima , Washington 
The Tree Crickets, CEcanthus spp., are generally known as beneficial 
insects since they feed very largely upon plant lice. In a minor way they 
are sometimes recognized as of economic importance on account of the 
injury their oviposition punctures cause to raspberry canes and fruit 
tree twigs. During the past several years, however, and especially the 
past two seasons these crickets have become one of the most important 
insect pests in the extensive prune orchards of southern Idaho, causing 
an annual loss of hundreds of thousands of dollars. 
When the crickets (one species of which is CEcanthus niveus De Geer) 
become about two-thirds grown or reach their fourth or fifth instars, they 
begin feeding upon the half-grown prunes, gnawing holes about over the 
surface and often deep down into the fruit (Plate 13). This injury starts 
about the first of August and continues until the prunes are harvested or 
about the last half of September. Before the prunes are harvested the 
crickets have reached maturity and continue their feeding with even 
greater avidity than before. 
It often happens that the per cent of tree cricket-injured fruit is so 
great that it does not pay to harvest, sort and pack the crop. When the 
per cent of injury is above 50% it is usually considered too expensive to 
sort and handle it. Not only is the injured fruit rendered unsightly and 
below the requirements for packing regulations, but it soon starts to 
