520 INSECT PESTS OF FARM, GARDEN AND ORCHARD 



The Round-headed Apple-tree Borer * 



The young apple orchard must be given frequent inspection 

 to detect the work of the round-headed borers, for if they become 

 established in the young trees it is difficult to kill them and they 

 soon girdle the trunks. They are most injurious to apple and 

 quince, less so to pear, and also infest wild thornapple trees and 

 mountain ash. The species occurs generally east of the Rocky 

 Mountains, but is not commonly injurious in the Gulf States. 

 The presence of the borers may be detected by the retarded growth 



FIG. 449. The round-headed apple-tree borer (Saperda Candida Feb.) larvae, 

 adults, and exit holes natural size. (After Rumsey and Brooks.) 



of the trees, with a yellowing of the foliage, and the sawdust like 

 castings which the larvae throw out from the entrances of their 

 burrows, accompanied by a discoloration of the bark over the 

 new burrows, and in early spring there is often a slight exudation 

 of sap. Injury is most severe in neglected orchards, where grass 

 and weeds are allowed to grow about the bases of the trees, as 

 the beetle, which flies at night, seeks the concealment of the 

 rank vegetation during the day. The parent beetle is a handsome 



* Saperda Candida Fab. Family Cerambycidcs. See E. P. Felt, Bulletin 

 74, N. Y. State Museum, p. 23, which gives full bibliography to 1902, and 

 F. E. Brooks, Farmers' Bulletin 675, U. S. Dept. Agr. 



