IN- IIIUIOHS AND BENEFICIAL IN SLOTS OF CALIFORNIA. 



THE FLAT-HEADED APPLE-TREE BORER 



Vhrysobothris fcmorata Fabricius 



(Fig. 224) 



Description. — The beetles are oblong, flattened and metallic green- 

 ish-black or grayish in color. On each wing cover there arc three 

 raised longitudinal lines which are traversed by 

 two brass-colored depressions, dividing the sur- 

 face into three nearly equal dark areas. The 

 under surface is metallic bronze and the feet 

 green. The females are about | inch long and 

 the males are slightly smaller and have green 

 heads. The eggs are yellow, ribbed, with one end 

 flattened and and are 1-50 inch long. The full- 

 grown larva' are while or yellow and from I to 

 over \ inch long. The anterior portion, just 

 behind the head, is enormously enlarged and flat- 

 tened. This character is 

 responsible for the com- 

 mon n a ni e, though in 

 reality the head proper 

 is very small and easily 

 distinguished by t h e 

 black jaws. No legs are 

 present.. The pupaa are 

 white or yellowish, as- 

 suming the colors of the 

 adults as chey mature. 



Life History. - - T h e 

 eggs are fastened, with a 

 cement at the flattened 

 end, under the loos e 

 scales of the bark, or in 

 crevices, either singly or 

 in small groups. After 

 hatching the small larvae 

 bore into the sapwood, 

 upon which they feed. 

 Young trees may thus he 

 completely girdled by 

 their wide, flattened bur- 

 rows. As they develop, 

 the larva 1 work into the 

 older and firmer wood. 

 When nearly ready to 

 pupate they work up- 

 ward to the bark, eating 

 n e a r 1 y through, and 

 form a large cell, where 

 transformation t a k e s 



Fig. 224. — The flat-headed apple-tree borer, Chry- 

 sobothris femorata Fab. Adult at top, larvse in their 

 burrows in young apple trees at bottom. All enlarged 

 nearly twice. (Adult original. Larvse, author's illus- 

 tration, Mo. Bui. Cal. Hort. Com.) 



place. The winter is spent in the larval and pupal stages, the adults 

 beginning to emerge in the early spring to begin egg-laying. 



