436 FIFTH REPORT OF THE ENTOMOLOGICAL COMMISSION. 



tainiug the head, is a larfjc square yellowish Ijorny area, succeeded by rough oval 

 areas on the tops of the succeeding segments. These rasps serve as legs, which are 

 wanting in the grub. 



The beetle is called the spurred Saperda (caharata) from the spine-like ends of the 

 wing-covers. The body is covered all over with a short and close nap, which gives it 



Fig. 



Fig. 161. — Popla brorer. Saperda 

 calcarata : a, natural size; 6 

 upper and c under side of head 

 and first thoracic segment en- 

 larged. — From Packard. 



a fine blue-gray color; it is finely punctured with brown, with four ocher yellow 

 lines on the head and three on the top of the thorax ; the scutel is also ocher-yellow, 

 and there are several irregular lines and spots of the same color on the wing-covers; 

 it is li inch in length. (Harris.) 



2. The lesser poplar borer. 



Saperda mceata Leconte. 



Boring in the poplar and balm of Gilead, selecting the smaller branches, in many 

 places not more than an inch or two apart, and situated chiefly at the base of the 

 buds, the whole leugth of the excavation not much exceeding an inch ; pupating 

 early in May and becoming beetles by the end of May. (See a full account of the 

 larva and its habits in Canadian Entomologist, vi, 1874, p. 61.; 



The larva. — Nearly cylindrical, tapering a little posteriorly, and about half an 

 inch in length. Head very small, dark reddish brown in front, pale behind. Body 

 deep yellow. Second segment deeper in color and more horny than the other seg- 

 ments; terminal segment a little more hairy than the others. (Saunders.) 



3. The poplar girdler. 



Saperda concolor Leconte. 



Girdling the trunks of sapling poplars, by carrying a mine around the trunk, which 

 causes a swelling often nearly twice the diameter of the tree. 



Our attention was first directed to this borer and the marked effects 

 of its work by Mr. George Hunt. In his company we have found 

 numerous saplings of the common poplar in the woods about Provi- 



