68 rXSECTS INFESTING THE APPLE TREE. 



places where the bark is bruised, sunburned or dead, on which 

 account it is not to be so much dreaded as the round-headed 

 species. 



The flat-headed apple-tree borer first makes its appearance 

 in the month of April or May, soon after which it dei)osits 

 its eggs ; these are usually deposited in crevices or beneath 

 the loose bark, several of them being not unfrequently 

 found together. They are of an uvoidal shape, pale yellow, 

 irregularly ribbed, wih one end flattened. The young larvae 

 hatched from these gnaw their way through the bark until 

 they reach the green cambium layer, and gradually extend 

 their broad and flattened channels beneath the bark. At 

 length, when thoy have grown stronger and their jaws firmer, 

 they bore into the more solid wood of the tree, working 

 upward until about to undergo their transformations, when 

 they cut a passage to the outside, leaving a thin covering at 

 the surface through which the beetle (Fig. 26) afterwards 

 forces its way. It is su])])ost'd to pass through its various 

 changes with inthe course of one year. The grub or larva 

 (Fig. 27) of the borer measures nearly nine lines or three 

 fourths of an inch in length, when full grown, and is of a pale 

 yellow color; it is entirely destitute of feet, and the second 

 segment is very broad and flattened, by which character this 

 grub may at once be distinguished from that of the round- 

 headed borer (Fig. 2.5a). The beetle measures al^out six lines, 

 or one half an inch in length, and is of a dark, dull, greenish 

 color with a strong, coppery luster, which is deepest on the 

 forehead and at the tip of the wing cases ; the head is sunken 

 up to the eyes in the thorax. On each wing-case are two 

 irregular impressed spots, wliieh are generally of a deeper 

 green or coppery color than the surrounding surface, and 

 sometimes appearing double. The under side and limbs are of 

 a brilliant copper color. The portion of the abdomen covered 

 by the wing cases is a light, blue-green. 



