196 



ORCHARDS. 



THE FLAT-HEADED APPLE TREE BORER. 



Chrysobothris femorata, Fabr. 

 [Coleoptera, Buprestidse.] 



[Fig. 15.] [Fig. 16.] 



This borer, which is repre- 

 sented in the larva state at 

 figure 15, may at once be re- 

 cognized by its anterior end 

 being enormously enlarged and 

 flattened. It is paler than the 

 preceding, and makes an en- 

 tirely different burrow. In consequence of 

 its immensely broad and flattened head, it bores a hole of an 

 oval shape and twice as wide as high. It never acquires much 

 more than half the size of the other species, and is almost 

 always found with its tail curled completely round towards 

 the head. It lives but one year in the tree and produces the 

 beetle, represented at figure 16, which is of a greenish black 

 color, with brassy lines and spots above, the under side ap- 

 pearing like burnished copper. This beetle flies by day in- 

 stead of by night, and may often be found on different trees 

 basking in the sunshine. It attacks not only the apple, but 

 the soft maple, oak and j^each, and is said to attack a variety 

 of other forest trees ; though, since the larva of the family 

 (BuPRESTiD^) to which it belongs all bear a striking resem- 

 blance to each other, it is possible that this particular species 

 has been accused of more than it deserves. 



It is, however, but far too common in the Valley of the 

 Mississippi, and along the Iron Mountain and Pacific rail- 

 road it is even more common than the preceding species. Mr. 

 G. Pauls, of Eureka, informs me that it has killed fifty trees 

 for him, and Mr. Cataw, and many others in that neighbor- 

 hood have suffered from it in like manner. 



" Remedies. — Dr. Fieth found that this borer was attacked 

 by the larva of some parasitic fly, belonging probably to the 

 Chalcis family, but it is greatly to be feared that this parasite 

 is as yet unknown in the West. At all events, this flat-headed 

 fellow is far more common with us than with our Eastern 



