34 



INSECTS INJURIOUS TO THE APPLE. 



in the males, furnished with two little horns ; the male may 

 also be further distinguished from the female by its having 

 two small thorn-like projections from the extremities of the 

 wing-covers. 



Unlike most other borers, which do their mischief in the 

 larval state, this insect works in the beetle state, boring into 

 the branches of apple, pear, and cherry trees, just above a 



Fig. 21. 



Fig. 22. 



bud, and working downwards through the pith in a cylindri- 

 cal burrow one or two inches long. (See Fig. 22, c and d.) 

 The holes appear to be made partly for the purpose of obtain- 

 ing food, and partly to serve as places of concealment for the 

 beetles ; they are made by both sexes alike, and the beetles 

 are found in them occasionally in the middle of winter, as 

 well as in the summer, usually with the head downwards. 

 They work throughout the summer months, causing the twigs 

 operated on to wither and their leaves to turn brown. Upon 

 examination, a perforation about the size of a knitting-needle 

 is found near one of the buds from six inches to a foot from 

 the end of the twig. This insect does not often occur in such 

 numbers as to inflict any material damage, but occasionally 

 as many as ten have been found working at once on a two- 

 or three-year-old tree; they also affect the twigs of larger 

 trees. The twigs so injured are very liable to break off with 

 high winds. 



There is not much known as yet about the earlier stages of 

 this insect ; the larva is said to have been found feeding upon 

 grape-canes, into which also the beetle occasionally bores. 

 The beetle is found from Pennsylvania to Mississippi, also in 



