CLOVER STEM BORER. 870 



distribution the seeds of mischief are wide scattered, no knowing 

 when they may germinate. 



Fig. 139 shows the eggs, 

 larva, pupa and imago of 

 the insect as well as the 

 natural size. of eggs and 

 the larva the latter as it 

 appears in the hollowed 

 stem of the clover. The 

 eggs are yellow, curved, 

 and 1.7 m m (about 1-16 of an inch) long. The larva? like wire 

 worms, and many other grubs, are slim, with the three pair 

 of jointed legs well developed, and a pair of anal pro-legs. When 

 full grown the yellow larva is 8 m m (a little more than .3 of an 

 inch) long. Like the pupa it has two plainly marked anal spines. 

 The pupa is also yellow and slender, and 6mm long. I find 

 Say's description of the imago, as usual, very exact : " It is slen- 

 der, cylindrical; the dark red antennae gradually form a club of 

 five joints. The palpi are thread-like; the mandibles bifid at 

 tip ; the maxillae have horny teeth. The thorax is yellowish- 

 red, smooth and unspotted. The elytra are bluish-black, with a 

 green tinge, marked with deeply impressed punctures, arranged 

 in regular series, but without impressed striae. The thighs are 

 pale rufous at base; the tibiae have a slight rufous tinge; the 

 tarsi are dotted with dense hairs beneath the three basal joints, 

 the 3d being bilobate." The venter has the three posterior joints 

 black. The length of the beetle is about 7 m m (i of an inch). 



The female lays the eggs in June, piercing the stem with her 

 jaws, and pushing her eggs clear in to the pith, often, says Prof. 

 Comstock, to a depth of 6 m m. The larva? feed upon the pith 

 downward, forming a burrow 15 c m (6 inches) long. This* 

 greatly injures if it does not kill the plant outright. The pupa 

 is formed at the bottom of the burrow in August, and shortly 



