68 FIFTH REPORT OF THE ENTOMOLOGICAL COMMISSION. 



The beetle. — Like other species of its family, the thick-legged Biiprestis is variable 

 in size, measuring from four to five tenths of an inch in length and about two-thirds 

 in width. It is of a black or greenish-black color, polished and shining, with the 

 surface rough and uneven. The head, and sometimes the thorax, and the depressed 

 portions of the elytra are of a dull coppery color. The head is sunk into the thorax 

 to the eyes, is densely punctured, and is clothed in front with fine white hairs, which 

 are directed downwards. Upon the middle of the top of the head is a smooth raised 

 black line with a narrow impressed line through its middle, a mark which serves to 

 distinguish this from some of the other sjiecies which are closely related to it. The 

 thorax is much more broad than long, and is widest forward of the middle. Its sur- 

 face is covered with dense, coarsish punctures, which run into each other in a some- 

 what transverse direction. It is also somewhat uneven, with slight elevations and 

 hollows, but has not two smooth raised lines on its middle and anterior part, which 

 are met with in another species very similar to this, the tooth-legged snapping- 

 beetle (Chryaohothns dentipes GermaT). The elytra or wing-covers present a much 

 more rough and unequal surface than any other part of the insect. Three smooth and 

 polished raised lines extend lengthwise of each wing-cover, and the intervals between 

 them are in places occupied by smaller raised lines, which form a kind of net-work, 

 and two impressed transverse spots may also be discerned, more or less distinctly, 

 dividing each wing-cover into three nearly equal portions. These spots reach from 

 the inner one of the three raised lines nearly to the outer margin, crossing the two 

 other raised lines and interruj)tiug them more or less. They are commonly of a 

 cupreous tinge, and densely punctured, but are smoother than the other portions of 

 the surface. A smaller and more deeply impressed spot may commonly be found in 

 the space next to the suture and forward of the anterior spot, of which it is, as it were, 

 a continuation. The wing-covers are rounded at their tips, so as to present a slight 

 notch at the suture when they are closed, and the outer margin towards the tip has 

 several very minute projecting teeth. When the wing-covers are parted the back 

 is discovered to be of a brilliant bluish-green color and thickly punctured, with a 

 row of large impressed spots along the middle, one on each segment, and half way 

 between these and the outer margin is another row of smaller impressed dots, having 

 their centers black. The underside of the body and the legs are brilliant coppery, 

 the feet being deep shining green, their last joint and the hooks at its end black. 

 Here also the surface is everywhere thickly punctured, the punctures on the venter or 

 hind part of the body opening backwards. The last segment has an elevated line in 

 the middle at its base, and its apex is cut otf by a straight line, in the middle of which 

 is commonly a small projecting tooth. The anterior thighs are remarkably large, 

 from which circumstance this species has received its name, and they have an angu- 

 lar projection on their inner sides, beyond the middle. The tibiae, or shanks, of these 

 legs are slightly curved. (Fitch.) 



Remedies. — Under this head we extract the following suggestions 

 from Fitch : 



The remedies for destroying this borer must necessarily be much the same with 

 those already stated for the common borer or striped Saperda. They consist essen- 

 tially of three measures : First, coating or impregnating the bark with some sub- 

 stance repulsive to the insect; second, destroying the beetle by hand-picking; and, 

 third, destroying the larva by cutting into and extracting it from its burrow. 



As it is during the month of June and forepart of July that the beetle frequents 

 the trees for the pui-pose of dejiositing its eggs in the bark, it is probable that white- 

 washing the trunk and large limbs or rubbing them over with soft soap early in 

 June will secure them from molestation from this enemy. And in districts where this 

 borer is known to infest the apple trees the trees should be repeatedly inspected dur- 

 ing this part of the year, and any of these beetles that are found upon them should 

 be captured and destroyed. It is at midday of warm, sunshiny days that the search 



