THE COATED SAPERDA. 109 



soon after which, the beetle gnaws through the bark that 

 covers the end of its burrow, and comes out of its place of 

 confinement in the night. 



Notwithstanding the pains that have been taken by some 

 persons to destroy and exterminate these pernicious borers, 

 they continue to reappear in our orchards and nurseries every 

 season. The reasons of this are to be found in the habits of 

 the insects, and in individual carelessness. Many orchards 

 suffer deplorably from the want of proper attention ; the 

 trees are permitted to remain, year after year, without any 

 pains being taken to destroy the numerous and various 

 insects that infest them ; old orchards, especially, are neg- 

 lected, and not only the rugged trunks of the trees, but 

 even a forest of unpruned suckers around them, are left to 

 the undisturbed possession and perpetual inheritance of the 

 Saperda. 



On the means that have been used to destroy this borer, a 

 few remarks only need to be made ; for it is evident that they 

 can be fully successful only when generally adopted. Killing 

 it by a wire thrust into the holes it has made, is one of the 

 oldest, safest, and most successful methods. Cutting out the 

 grub, with a knife or gouge, is the most common practice ; 

 but it is feared that these tools have sometimes been used 

 without sufficient caution. A third method, which has more 

 than once been suggested, consists in plugging the holes 

 with soft wood. If a little camphor be previously inserted, 

 this practice promises to be more effectual ; but experiments 

 are wanting to confirm its expediency. 



The coated Saperda, or Saperda vestita (Plate II. Fig. 19), 

 described by Mr. Say in the Appendix to Keating's Narrative 

 of Major Long's Expedition, resembles the foregoing species 

 in form. It measures from six to eight tenths of an inch in 

 length ; it is entirely covered with a close greenish-yellow 

 down or nap, and has two or three small black dots near the 

 middle of each wing-cover. Mr. Say discovered it near the 

 southern extremity of Lake Michigan, and states that it is 



