26 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO THE APPLE. 



The mature larva (Fig. 11), which attains its full growth 

 early in April, is about two aud a half inches long, nearly 

 four-tenths of an inch across about the middle, tapering 

 jTiQ^ 11_ slightly towards each 



extremity. The head 

 is broad, brownish, 

 and rough above ; 

 the jaws very strong, curved, and pointed ; the terminal seg- 

 ment of the body blackish, roughened with small pointed 

 tubercles, with a deep semicircular notch at the end, and 

 armed at the sides with small teeth, the two hindermost 

 of which are long, forked, and curved upwards like hooks ; 

 under this hinder segment is a large fleshy foot, furnished 

 behind with little claws, and around the sides with short 

 spines ; it has six true legs, — a pair under each of the first 

 three segments. Early in spring the larva casts its skin and 

 becomes a pupa, and in due time there emerges from it a 

 perfect beetle. 



This beetle, when placed upon its back on a flat surface, 

 has the power of springing suddenly into the air, and, while 

 moving, turning its body, thus recovering its natural position. 

 This unusual movement combines with its curious prominent 

 eye-like spots to make it a constant source of wonder and 

 interest. Since it feeds mainly on decaying wood, it scarcely 

 deserves to be classed with destructive insects; yet, being 

 occasionally found in the trunk of the apple-tree, it is worthy 

 of mention here. 



No. 8. — The Rough Osmoderma. 



Osmoderma scabra (Beauv.). 



This insect, also, lives in the larval state in the decaying 

 wood of the apple, as well as in that of the cherry, con- 

 suming the wood and inducing more rapid decay. It is a 

 large, white, fleshy grub, with a reddish, hard-shelled head. 

 In the autumn each larva makes for itself an oval cell of 

 fragments of wood, cemented together with a glutinous ma- 



