186 



FRUIT INSECTS 



Fig. 



180. — Round-headed apple-tree borer, 

 grown larva (x ^). 



full- 



or spots. We have seen one quince orchard ruined by this 

 borer, while another orchard about two miles away owned and 

 cared for by the same fruit-grower was never seriously infested. 



The presence of this 

 borer is usually easily 

 detected at the base of 

 the tree in the spring by 

 the little piles of saw- 

 dust-like castings 

 thrown out from an 

 opening through the 

 bark into its burrow. Often several of the borers work in a tree 

 and the whole tree has a weak and sickly appearance with leaves 

 small and yellowish. Trees of all ages, from nursery stock to 

 large orchard trees, are attacked and often killed. Rank vege- 

 table growths of weeds, grass and water-sprouts around the 

 trunks of trees often seem to afford more favorable conditions 

 for this pest. The borers work mostly in the base of the trunk 

 often below the surface of the ground and in the large roots. 

 Sometimes they infest 

 the upper portions of 

 the [trunk and rarely 

 the larger limbs. The 

 burrows or tunnels 

 begin in the bark and 

 sap wood, but soon ex- 

 tend for several inches 

 up and down in the solid 

 wood, often reaching 

 the heart of small trees. 



The borer when full grown is a light yellow, legless, fleshy 

 grub about an inch in length with a dark brown head and black- 

 ish mandibles (Fig. 180). The first thoracic segment is broader 

 than the rest of the body and bears a large patch of many small 



Fig. 181. 



Round-headed apple-tree borer, 

 male and male beetles. 



fe- 



