THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



69 



ENTOMOLOGY FOR BEGINNERS. 



THE LEGGED MAPLE BORER—Aegeria acernl (Clemens). 



BY THE EDITOR. 



In i860 Dr. Clemens described this pretty moth in the Proceedings of 

 the Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, and since *then it has 

 been written on by Mr. P. Gennadius in the American Naturalist for 

 January, 1874, and in the same year by 

 C. V. Riley, in his 6th Missouri Report., 

 It is well figured in the accompanying 

 cut, figure 6 (after Riley), in all its 

 stages ; a shows the larva, b the cocoons 

 exposed by removal of the bark, c 

 the moth, and d the chrysalis. ' 



The moth appears late in May 

 and during June. When the wings are 

 expanded it measures about three-quarters 

 of an inch across ; its wings are transpar- 

 ent, decorated with bluish-black markings. 

 The head and palpi are of a deep reddish- 

 orange, antennae bluish-black, thorax 

 ochreous-yellow, abdomen bluish-black 

 varied with ochreous-yellow and termin- 

 ated by a tuft of brilliant reddish-orange 

 hairs. 



The under side of the body is ochreous-yellow with bluish-black 

 markings. 



The female deposits her eggs on the bark of the soft and sugar maple 

 trees, chiefly on the former, and when hatched the young larvae burrow 

 through the bark and feed upon the inner portion and sap wood, never 

 penetrating into the solid heart wood. The excavations made by the larva 

 are filled with its brown castings. When full grown it is more than half 

 an inch long, cylindrical to the eleventh segment, then tapering to the 

 end, with the skin wrinkled and folded. The head is small, of a yellow 

 color, cervical shield paler ; stigmata brown ; legs and tips of prolegs 

 reddish. When the larva is full grown it eats its way nearly through the 



Fie. 6. 



