APPLE-TRUNK BORER — ITS SCIENTIFIC NAME. 19 



joints, whereof the second one is quite short and all the others long and cylin- 

 drical, the basal one being much thicker than the others. They are covered 

 with appressed white hairs upon a black ground, causing them to appear gray 

 in the males and white in the females. The basal joint has several scattered 

 black bristles, and upon the under side is a row of similar bristles to the end 

 of the fifth joint, and three at the tips of each of the three following joints. 

 The thorax presents a slender line in its middle, which line is impressed poste- 

 riorly and elevated anteriorly, its anterior end being often of a white color. 

 The legs are of the same color as the antennae, the soles of the feet being pale 

 brown or yellowish, and the hooks at their tips are reddish-brown, 



This insect was regarded as a new species by Mr. Say, and he 

 accordingly described it in the year 1824, in the Journal of the 

 Academy of Natural Sciences, (vol. iii. p. 409,) under the name 

 of Saperda bivittata or the Two-striped. Saperda, which name is 

 also adopted by Dr. Harris, and is currently known throughout 

 •our country as the scientific name of this insect. Fabricius long 

 since very briefly noticed a species (Entomologia Systematica, 

 vol. i b. p. 307,) which he found in the museum of Dr. Hunter, 

 the native country of which was unknown, under the name of 

 Super da Candida, or the White Saperda. He merely says of this 

 insect that it is white, above fuscous with two white stripes, and 

 with obtuse, smooth elytra. As Dr. Hunter's museum contained 

 many insects from this country, Prof. HaldemanandDr. Le Conte 

 regard our Apple tree borer as being without doubt the S. Can- 

 dida of Fabricius. In this they are probably correct; but as our 

 insect is clearly of an umber and not a fuscous brown color, and 

 lias punctured elytra, marks which are at variance with the Fa- 

 brician account, I deem it more safe to retain the name given by 

 Mr. Say, connected with which there is no query, until our insect 

 has been compared with the specimen, which is probably still in 

 existence, and from which Fabricius drew his description. 



Among the means provided by the Author of Nature for de- 

 stroying this borer and keeping it from becoming unduly multi- 

 plied, the woodpeckers of our country, and particularly the 

 Downy woodpecker (Picas pubesce?iSj Lin,) which is so frequently 

 seen in our orchards, stands conspicuous. This gay bird seems 

 to have been endowed with the habits and furnished with the 

 organs which it possesses, for the express purpose of enabling it 

 to discover and prey upon the Apple-tree borer and similar 



