ATTACKING THE ROOTS. 



229 



male overlap one another like tiles on a roof. It is verv 

 similar in appearance to the broad-necked prionus, but the 

 two species may be distinguished by the difference in the 



Fig. 235. 



number of the joints in their antennae : in imbricornis the 

 male has about nineteen joints, and the female about sixteen, 

 while iu laficoUis both sexes have twelve-jointed antennte. 

 Any remedial measures useful for one species will be equally 

 applicable to the other. 



No. 124. — The Grape-vine Root-borer. 



^geria polistiformis HaiTis. 

 This larva resembles that of the peach-tree borer, No. 97, 

 in a{)pearance and habits, but is a little larger in size. The 

 larvae of the Prionus beetles have only six legs, while this 

 Egerian larva, in common with most lepidopterous insects, 

 has sixteen legs, — six horny ones 

 on the anterior segments, and ten 

 fleshy or membranous ones on the 

 hinder segments, — and when full 

 grown it measures from an inch to 



an inch and a half in length. (See Fig. 236.) It lives ex- 

 clusively under ground, and consumes the bark and sap-wood 

 of the grape-roots, eating irregular furrows into their sub- 



FiG. 236. 



