The insect can be controlled only by the old arduous methods of digging out, and injecting carbon disulphide into the burrows.
Several other long-horned beetles are borers in the hickory and other nut trees. Then, too, the leopard moth, zeuzera pyrina Linn., and the carpenter worm, Prionoxystus robiniae Peck, may be found occasionally in most any kind of tree.
The chestnut tree (if it has thus far escaped the blight or bark disease) may show small, deep tunnels into the wood of trunk and branch, made by the chestnut timber worm, Lymexylon sericeum Harr. Slow-growing woodland trees are more apt to show these galleries than trees of rapid growth standing in the open.
There are a number of tussock moths, sawflies, beetles, etc., which feed on the leaves of nut trees. Spraying with lead arsenate will prevent damage. There are also many sucking insects attacking them, such as the hickory gall aphis, and several species found on the leaves. Some of these may be controlled by spraying with a contact insecticide such as nicotine solution or kerosene emulsion.
In the Southern States, pecan trees are attached by some of these insects which I have mentioned; there are also many more which cannot even be mentioned in the time allotted to this paper. Information may be obtained regarding them, by any one interested, and for this purpose I have appended a short list of publications.
Literature.
Britton, W. E., and Kirk, H. B. The Life History of the Walnut Weevil or Curculio. Report Conn. Agr. Expt. Station for 1912, page 240.
Brooks, Fred E. Snout Beetles That Injure Nuts. Bull. 128, West Virginia Agr. Expt. Sta., Morgantown, W. Va., 1910.
Chittenden, F. H. The Nut Weevils, Circular 99, Bureau of Entomology, U. S. Dept. of Agr., Washington, D. C., 1908.
Felt, E. P. Insects Affecting Park and Woodland Trees. Memoir No. 8, N. Y. State Museum, Albany, N. Y. 2 vols., 1905, 1906.
Gossard, H. A. Insects of the Pecan, Bull. 79, Fla. Agr. Expt. Station, Gainesville, Fla., 1905.
Herrick, G. W. Insects Injurious to Pecans, Bull. 86, Miss. Agr. Expt. Station, Agricultural College, Miss., 1904.
Hopkins, A. D. The Dying Hickory Trees. Circular 144, Bureau of Entomology, U. S. Dept. of Agr., Washington, D. C., 1912.
Kirk, H. B. The Walnut Bud Moth. Report Conn. Agr. Expt. Station for 1912, page 253.
A Member: Early in the spring I noticed something on the hickory trees swollen and bright red in color, so that the trees were conspicuous from a distance. Later insects emerged which appeared to be these little gnats that fly in swarms.
Dr. Britton: From the description I am not able to say what it was, but it was probably one of those gall flies, a great many species of which exist and which attack all kinds of plants. They do not, as a rule, cause very serious damage, and I can not suggest any particular remedy. Did it interfere with the growth of the tree?