THE NATIVE BORER.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume VII, Issue 2113, 6 October 1885, Page 2

THE NATIVE BORER.

The following is the article on the native borer in the New Manfj Parmer to which we alluded in our Friday's issue:—

In our correspondence columns will be found an interesting letter from Mr Charles Hill, of tho Thames, with reference to a species %er vrjlicji lie discovered at worlj upon ono of lijs fruit trees, \Vit]i great perseverance Mr Hill watched Mie operations and devalopement of the insect ever since January last, with the result that Jie hafl been able to verify beypnd dispute tlje fact that tlie beetle of which we hote give ai) engraving is the parent of a grub most mischievous to fruit trees, The pieces of plum tree sent us by Mr Hill are riddled through and through with galleries and passages from one-eighth to a quarter of an inch in diameter, lengthwise of the grain of the >vood, Tlje grub we have not seen, but in ono of the Borings we found the pupa of tho insect, showing the perfect form of the beetle through the semi-trangparejij; mei))brai)p povering its breast ani} ab(lpn}oii. Lafer piiMrHDl sent ub a piece pf tlje pliim tree in which was found the fully deyelqped beetle from which our engraving was made, We submitted the insect to Oapt. T. Broun's inspection, and we are indebted to him for the information that its scientific name is JEmom Urta. It is a species of a sqnieiyhat npierous families of indigenous insects, dH pf jyhich are borers. We have been fr«m boyjiood familiar with the outward appearanpe pf sevoral members of the family, which all resemble one another jn form and colour, but differ considerably jn size, in early October of last yew we found one of these beetles, of a smaller variety excavating the terminal bud of an apple branch, or rather twig, with the object no doubt of depositing therein its eggs, When the grubs once hatched, they would bore down through the shoot into the thicker wood of the tree. This beetle we sent at the time to Captain Broun and he pronounced it to be Xylotehs hirseus, a native wood-eating beetle belonging to the family Longicornia. Tjiere must be rpuny settlers who have often seen tljese beetles, without knowing their destructive characteristics. We incline to the belief that in former years they principally confined their attentions to native trees, and consequently did little harm to fruit-trees; but as the native bush and scrub became scarce within the older settled districts, while orchard treed became more numerous, tlje beetles, with the wonderful readiness of insect pests to adapt themselves to their environment, experimented with fruit and other cultivated trees, and finding them suitable for their purpose they are now inclined to make an extensive use of thorn, to tie sorrow of the orchards.

It is really high'time tho Government appointed a cmopetent entomologjit whow

_ \ duty it would be to help fruit growers, farmers, and gardeners to identify injurious insects, and himself to study their habits and conduct experiments as to the best means of combating theif • attaeks. We see that tho Select Committee appointed , by- : -the House this session to inquire into the subject of insect pests, and whose report we notice elsewhere, recommend the Government to publish a report upon -the subject, to be compiled by Mr Maskell from information collected by him. This report, if issued to the public at a low price, would no doubt be very useful; but wo want more than this to achieve satisfactory success in dealing with the army of insect marauders which in increasing iitlmbers and variety every year, ate invading our orchards, fields, and gardens, A Gov- j eminent entomologist is wanted not only 9 to note new species of pests which may r make their appearance, or which, \ like the 'Odontria Zealandica,' although indigenous to the country, are only now becoming generally mischeivous. Besides this veiy important work which will bo in its nature continuous, he should undertake the inspection of time to time in connection with GlTeramcnt regulations which should be established to enforce reasonable care on the part of fruit-growers to keep the trees clean. Also, he would have to inspect fruit cargoes, arriving from abroad to, prevent the landing of infested fruit, which work it is simply ridiculous to relagate to Custom House officers and Scab Inspectors, as suggested by the Select Committee. We have in New Zealand in the person of Captain T. Broun the very man, as it seems to us, for such a position. His entomological knowledge is, of course, beyond question, and although recognised by European scientific circles, it has been gained, we believe, almost entirely in this colony, which should make his services especially valuable to the colonial public. At any rate, someone should be appointed to take up the special duties we havo above indicated, and that someone should be thoroughly competent as an entomoligist. Unless this is done any other endeavours of the Government to aid in repressing the ravages of insect pests in this country will, we fear, be comparatively useless,