There are several borers attacking the wood of the trunk of the hickory, but one of the commonest is the painted hickory borer. It also occasionally attacks black walnut, butternut, mulberry and osage orange. In hickory especially the larval tunnels are often found in the wood when trees are felled. There is probably one brood annually and the winter passed in the pupa stage, though it may possibly hibernate as a larva. Its life history is not fully understood. It is a common occurrence in Connecticut, and specimens are sent me every year, for the adult beetles to emerge in March from firewood in the house or cellar and crawl about seeking a chance to escape. The housewife fears that a terrible household pest has descended upon her, and with fear and trembling invokes the aid of the Agricultural Station.
The beetles appear outside in April and May, and probably oviposit soon afterward. They are about three-fourths of an inch in length and are black, prettily marked with golden yellow.
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.