226 A NATURALIST IN THE GREAT LAKES REGION 



the trunk if the tree is at all weakened. An allied species, 

 Saperda lateralis, is also found on the hickory, and S. vestile is 

 very destructive. The larva of the goat moth also attacks lusty 

 trees and bores into their heartwood. It is good sized some two 

 or more inches long when full grown. Such forms open the 

 trees ' defenses to a legion of other insect pests that are seldom 

 slow to follow up the advantage and that bore into the wood 

 or undermine the bark. Such are the flathead apple-tree borer 

 (Fig. 313). The adult beetle of the last-named species has been 



known to emerge from wood 

 made into furniture several 

 years after the manufacture 

 of the article, the pupa hav- 

 ing lived during a long 

 period of imprisonment, so 

 it is claimed. 



When the tree has suc- 

 cumbed and stands as a dead 

 or nearly dead tree, the oak 

 is attacked, in addition to 

 the foregoing, by such forms 

 as Graphisurus fasciatus (Fig. 310), Calloides nobilis (Fig. 311), 

 while the hickory supports even a larger beetle population, 

 common among which are Liophus alpha, Stenosphenius notatus, 

 Molorchus bimaculatus (Fig. 312). The decay of the log goes on 

 through many years, and the population changes as decomposi- 

 tion progresses. The trunk may still stand or it may be lying 

 on the ground when the bark loosens and the underlying sapwood 

 begins to rot. Under such conditions one finds a curious 

 assemblage of animals representative of many phyla. The slugs 

 already mentioned in the beech log are present, though not as 

 commonly as in the more mesophy tic wood frog association. 

 They are usually found near the base of the standing stump. 

 Snails are represented by Polygyra albolabris, P. thyroides, and 

 other species of Polygyra already listed in the beech-maple forest. 



FIG. 313. Flathead apple-tree boreri 

 Chrysobothris femorata; a, larva; b, adult; 

 c, face of larva; d, pupa. After Chittenden. 



