226 FIFTH REPORT OF THE ENTOMOLOGICAL COMMISSION 



arrested by general action. The only remedy available is unquestionably the de- 

 Htrnction of affected trees in autumn and winter before the beetles have a chance to 

 emerge from the trunks. In towns this measure should usually be taken by the au- 

 thorities, since individual action could not be depended on to more than palliate the 

 ditticulty. If every elm which is in the unhealthy condition above described, and 

 which, upon examination, is found to harbor these borers beneath the bark, were cut 

 down in autumn and burned before spring, the multiplication of the borer might be 

 effectually checked; but if the destruction of the trees be postponed until as late as 

 May, a part of all of the beetles maturing each year would escape to carry the mis- 

 chief elsewhere. (Forbes). 



The larva. — White, subcylindrical, a little flattened, with the lateral fold of the 

 body rather prominent; end of the body flattened, obtuse, and nearly as wide at the 



end as at the first abdominal ring. The head is one- 

 half as wide as the prothoracic ring, being rather 

 large. The prothoracic segment, or that next to the 

 head, is transversely oblong, being about twice as 

 broad as long; there is a pale dorsal corneous trans- 

 versely oblong shield, being about two-thirds as long 

 as wide, and nearly as long as the four succeeding 

 segments; this plate is smooth, except on the pos- 

 terior half, which is rough, with the front edge irregu- 

 lar, and not extending far down the sides. Fine 

 hairs arise from the front edge and side of the plate, 

 and similar hairs are scattered over the body and 

 especially around the end. On the upper side of each 

 segment is a transversely oblong ovate roughened 

 area, with the front edge slightly convex, and behind slightly arcuate. On tlie 

 under side of each segment are similar rough horny plates, but arcuate in front, with 

 the hinder edge straight. 



It differs from the larva of Saperda vestita Say in the shorter body, which is broader, 

 more hairy, with the tip of the abdomen flatter and more hairy. The prothoracic 

 segment is broader and flatter, and the rough portion of the dorsal plates is larger 

 and less transversely ovate. The structure of the head shows that its generic dis- 

 tinctness from Saperda, originally insisted on by Mulsant, may be well founded, as 

 the head is smaller and flatter, the clypeus being twice as large, and the labrum broad 

 and short, while in Saperda vestita it is longer than broad. The mandibles are much 

 longer and slenderer, and the anteun;e are much smaller than in Saperda vestita. 



Beetle. — A rather flat-bodied, dark-brown beetle, with a rusty-red curved line be- 

 hind the eyes, two stripes on the thorax, and with a long red stripe on the outer 

 edge of each wing-cover, with three long points projecting inwards; 0.50 inch in 

 length. 



2. Thk ued-edged saperda. 



Fig. 71. Larva ( fioin life) and adult 

 of the plm-tree borer.— From 

 Packard. 



Sajierda lateralis Fabric) us. 



Order Coleoptera ; family Ckrambycid.e. 



Mining the inner bark of dead trees and logs of the common elm, a grub very sim- 

 ilar to the foregoing, and about the 1st of June producing a similar beetle, but differ- 

 ing in wanting the transverse teeth or points arising from the marginal stripe on the 



wing-covers. (Fitch.) 



3. Saperda vestita. 



Found ou the elm. This borer is destroyed by the larva o( Br aeon 

 charus Eiley, a specimen of which was taken from a larva found on the 

 above-named tree. (Riley's unpublished notes.) See linden insects. 



