APPLE INSECTS — BORERS AND MISCELLANEOUS 195 



proached. The favorite natural host-plants of the insect are 

 doubtless oak trees, but it attacks a great variety of wild and 

 cultivated plants. Among orchard fruits it is often injurious 

 to apple, quince, pear, peach, plum and apricot trees and cur- 

 rant bushes. Pecan trees are attacked by it in Alabama, and 

 its food-plants among shade and forest trees now include oak, 

 mountain ash, maple, box-elder, hickory, chestnut, sycamore, 

 horse-chestnut, linden and willow. 



The common name of this insect, 

 the flat-headed borer, was suggested 

 by the pecuhar flat-headed appearance 

 of the larva or grub to distinguish it 

 from the round-headed borer, Saperda 

 Candida, often working on the same 

 trees. While the flat-headed borer is 

 more common, it is usually a less dan- 

 gerous pest than the latter species, be- 

 cause it rarely attacks thrifty, healthy 

 trees. It seems to prefer the warmer 

 southern sides of young trees that are 

 suffering from lack of cultivation, un- 

 congenial soil, cUmatic or other disease- 

 producing conditions. 



This destructive short-horned metaUic beetle is of a flattish 

 oblong form (Fig. 186) and about half an inch long, varying 

 considerably in size. The antennae are short, the eyes large, 

 and the front legs are armed with a conspicuous tooth. The 

 upper surface of the body is of a dark, coppery-brown color 

 and fresh specimens are often coated in spots with a powdery 

 gray substance that easily rubs off. Each wing-cover has three 

 slightly raised Hues, the outer two of which are interrupted by 

 two impressed, irregular, transverse spots of a brassy green 

 color, dividing each wing-cover into three nearly equal portions. 

 The under surface of the body and the legs are of a bright me- 



FiG. 186. — 

 flat-headed 

 borer (x 3|). 



Adult of the 

 apple-tree 



