ORCHARDS. 191 



Apple Borers. — " The apple-tree borer was entirely un- 

 known until Thomas Say described it in the year 1824 ; and, ac- 

 cording to Dr. Fitch, it was not till the year following that its 

 destructive character became known in the vicinity of Albany, 

 N. Y., for the first time. Yet It is a native American insect, 

 and has for ages inhabited our indigenous crabs, from which 

 trees my friend, Mr. A. Boiler, took numerous specimens in 

 the vicinity of Chicago, ten years ago. It also attacks the 

 Quince, Mountain Ash, Hawthorn, Pear, and Juneberry. Few 

 persons are aware to what an alarming extent this insect is 

 infesting the orchards in St. Louis, Jefferson, and adjacent 

 counties, and for aught I know, throughout the State. A tree 

 becomes unhealthy, and eventually dwindles and dies, without 

 the owner having the least suspicion of the true cause — the gnaw- 

 ing worm within. Even in the orchard of the most worthy Pres- 

 ident of our State Horticultural Society, I found one or more 

 large worms at the base of almost every tree that I examined, 

 notwithstanding he had been of the opinion that there was not 

 a borer of this kind on his place. 



"At the above figure this borer is represented inits three stages 

 of larva (a), pupa (b), and perfect beetle (c). The beetle may 

 be known by the popular name of the Two-striped Saperda, 

 while its larva is best known by the name of the Round-headed 

 apple tree borer, in contra-distinction to the Flat-headed 

 species, which will be presently treated of. 



" The average length of the larva, when full grown, is 

 about one inch, and the width of the first segment is not quite 

 one fourth of an inch. Its color is light yellow, with a tawny 

 yellow spot of a more horny consistency on the first segment, 

 which, under a lens, is found to be formed of a mass of light 

 brown spots. The head is chestnut brown, polished and horny, 

 and the jaws are deep black. The pupa is of rather lighter 

 color than the larva, and has transverse rows of minute teeth 

 on the back, and a few at the extremity of the body ; and the 

 perfect beetle has two longitudinal white stripes between three 

 of a light cinnamon brown color. The Two-striped Saperda 

 makes its appearance in the beetle state during the months of 

 May and June, and is seldom seen by any but the entomologist — 



