last described. In the months of June, July and August, they may be found, on the south or southwest side of the trees, basking in the sunshine. The color of the upper side of their body is a greenish black, flecked with patches of gray, while the under side is a bright copper color. Its length is about half an inch, but there is considerable variation in this respect. It flies by day, and is very active in its movements, darting away swiftly when attempts. are made to capture it. As it closely resembles the bark of the tree in color, it cannot be easily detected when at rest on the tree, without special attention is directed to it. The eggs are generally laid either singly, or two or three in a place, in the cracks or crevices of the bark, or under the rough scales on the southwest. side of the tree, either on the body of the tree, or at the crotch. Trees that are diseased, or that have been injured, are much more liable to be attacked. The worm, as it hatches and burrows in the bark, lives in the early stages of its growth on the inner bark and. sap wood; as it increases in size and strength it cuts its way into the solid wood, sometimes eating through

the heart wood. The full grown larva is described by Professor Thomas, as "about seven-tenths of an inch in length. It is soft, flesh like, and of a pale, yellow color. The head is small, and immersed into the following segment. The jaws are black. The third segment is very broad and large, being nearly twice the width of any of the poste

rior segments; it is rather broader than long,

APPLE TREE Borer.

a, full grown larva; b, pupa; d, perfect beetle.

having on the upper side a large, oval, cal- FIG. 15. FLAT HEADEDlous like elevation, covered with numerous brown raised points." It usually works in an upward direction, cutting an oval gallery, twice as broad as high. In this the larva is always found, with its tail bent around toward its head, in the position shown in figure 15. It remains in the tree nearly a year; passes the pupa state in its hole, at the upper extremity, near the bark. In June or July the perfect. beetle cuts its way through the bark, basks a few days in the sunlight, performs its mission of perpetuating its species, and dies.

The remedies usually employed to ward off and destroy both these borers, are: first, smearing the trees with some substance

which is repulsive to the beetle; and second, the knife. Soap or some form of alkali is generally used for this purpose. It should be applied two or three times in a season (and oftener if washed off by heavy rains), both to the body, the crotch and larger limbs, especially if diseased or injured in any way. Some recommend placing a piece of hard soap in the crotch of the trees, where the rain will wash it down to the places needing protection. A careful examination of the trees in the fall and spring will reveal those that are affected; the rusty colored castings of the worms, ejected from their holes, will indicate where they may be found, and in the fall especially, they can be easily removed, being near or still in the bark. The bark over their burrows is usually shrunken, dry and discolored, and is another way in which their position may be detected. In the spring, further indications of their presence may be seen, and the knife used to destroy them. If they have cut far into the tree they may be reached and killed by a wire, or what is better still, a small round piece of whalebone, so flexible that it will follow the crooks and turns of the holes. While the destruction of the mature larvæ will not repair the damage already done, it will be beneficial in preventing their contributing to the perpetuation of the species.

Many of these worms are yearly destroyed by the different species of woodpeckers. Were it not for their aid in holding the borers in check, our fruit, and many of our forest trees, would soon be annihilated. The species commonly called sap sucker, is regarded as causing much injury to the trees, by drilling the bark full of holes. This is doubtless a detriment to the tree, but the purpose for which these holes are made is not to suck out the sap of the tree, as many suppose, but the destruction of insects infesting the bark and sap wood. These birds seldom, if ever, attack a sound, healthy tree. Their instinct, or keenness of vision, unerringly directs them to the trees and places affected, and their natural appetite leads them to seek out and destroy the destroyer. Nature designed them for this work, as may be seen in the sharp, long bill, for penetrating bark and wood, and the long, wiry tongue, the point thickly covered with hooked barbs, which is run up the burrow made by the worm in search of its occupant. The instrument most suitable and best fitted for this work in the hands of man, is one made of whalebone, and is fashioned after, and does

the work in the same manner as the woodpecker's tongue. On the other hand, it will readily be seen to be wholly unfitted for the extraction of sap or fluids. A quotation from the remarks of Mr. Wilson, the celebrated ornithologist, will not only help to correct the wrong impression which many entertain in relation to these birds, but will give some idea of the benefit derived from their work: "Of all our woodpeckers, none rid the apple tree of so many vermin as the Downy woodpecker, digging off the moss which the negligence of the proprietor had suffered to accumulate, and probing every crevice. In fact, the orchard is his favorite resort in all seasons, and his industry is unequaled and almost incessant. In the fall he is particularly fond of boring the apple trees for insects, digging a circular hole through the bark, just sufficient to admit his bill; after that, a second, third, and so on, in pretty regular, horizontal circles around the body of the tree. From nearly the surface of the ground up to the first fork, and sometimes far beyond it, the whole bark of many apple trees is perforated in this way, so as to appear as if made by discharges of buck shot, and our little woodpecker is the principal perpetrator of this supposed mischief. I say supposed, for, so far from these perforation of the bark being ruinous, they are not only harmless, but I have good reason to believe, really beneficial to the health and fertility of the tree. In more than fifty orchards, which I have myself carefully examined, those trees which were marked by the woodpecker (for some trees they never touch, perhaps because not penetrated by insects) were uniformly the most thrifty, and seemingly the most productive. Many of these were upwards of sixty years old, their trunks completely covered with holes, while their branches were broad, luxuriant, and loaded with fruit. The most common opinion is, that they bore the tree to suck the sap, and so destroy its vegetation, though pine and other resinous trees, on the juices of which it is not pretended that they feed, are often found equally perforated. Besides, the early part of spring is the season when the sap flows most abundantly, whereas it is only during the months of September, October and November that woodpeckers are seen so indefatigably engaged in orchards, penetrating every crack or crevice, boring through the bark; and what is worth remarking, chiefly on the south and southwest sides of the trees, for the eggs and larvæ deposited there by the countless swarms of sum

mer insects. Here then, is a whole species, I may say genus, of birds which Providence seems to have formed for the protection of our fruit and forest trees from the ravages of vermin, which every day destroy millions of these noxious insects, that would otherwise blast the hopes of the husbandman; and yet they are proscribed by those who ought to have been their protectors, and incitements, and rewards are held out for their destruction. Want of adaptation for this method of seeking sustenance should be sufficient to clear these benefactors from the charge of extracting the life of trees; but in addition to this, we have the evidence of those who have examined the stomachs of the birds themselves, and thus by the sacrifice of their lives, compelling them to testify to the falsity of the accusation made against the species. Dr. Bryant stated before the Natural History Society of Boston, Mass., "that he had examined the stomachs of six yellow billed woodpeckers, sent to him from Wisconsin, charged with doing great damage to orchards here, in all of which he, found portions of the inner bark of the apple tree, but also much greater quantities of insects; that in one bird he found two larvæ of a boring beetle, so large that there was not room in the stomach for both at once, and one remained in the lower part of the esophagus;" and he adds: "If these were the larvæ of the sarpeda, as is probable, they would do more damage than twenty woodpeckers, and I sincerely hope that these birds are not to be exterminated, unless it is clearly demonstrated that the injury caused by the destruction of the bark is not more than compensated by their destruction of noxious insects."

STEEL-BLUE BEETLE.

Haltica Chalybea.

This beetle has long been known to the grape growers of the country as very destructive to the vineyard. It has done but little damage in this state, compared with its work in other sections, yet it seems to be on the increase here, and has occasioned more loss the present season than in any previous year. If care is taken to destroy them when few in numbers, they will probably never be so numerous as to prove very destructive, but if neglected, they will doubtless become very troublesome.

Though commonly called the steel-blue beetle, they differ much

in color, varying from shades of purple to dark green and blue. We find the following in relation to this insect, in an address given by Dr. J. Fisher, of Fitchburg, Mass., before the Massachusetts Board of Agriculture: "It has a most beautiful, brilliant, greenish blue.color, and a very shiny shell. It is the size of a small lady bug, and somewhat the same shape, only a little more oval. It appears very early in the spring, before the leaves of the grape have shown; and, just about the time the buds begin to swell, this inect bores a small hole right in the side of the bud, takes out the

center, and prevents it from developing, using so much for food. They come in considerable numbers, and pair immediately on meeting their mates, eating what little they want, and destroying a bud every time they eat. They lay their eggs upon the foot stalks of the leaves, or at the base of the protruding shoot, remain about for some time and disappear. From the eggs that are laid are hatched small, brownish, nearly black, slugs or worms, that feed on the upper or under surface of the leaf, without much choice, gradually growing with the leaves; the different broods lasting, perhaps, six weeks, when they all disappear. Sometimes they are very plenty. They have been so numerous in some gardens, as to destroy the crop completely, and any grower is liable to have them overrunning his vines, if he does not keep on the watch. It is my