20 



INSECTS INJURIOUS TO THE APPLE. 



FIG. 4. 



No. 3. The Flat-headed Apple-tree Borer. 



Chrysobothris femorata (Fabr.). 



This borer is also a native of America, and is in its ma- 

 ture state a beetle belonging to the family Buprestidse. It 

 is a very active creature, one which courts the light of day 

 and delights to bask in the hot sunshine, running up and 

 down the bark of a tree with great rapidity, but instantly 

 taking wing if an attempt be made to capture it. The beetle 

 measures from three-eighths to half an inch or more in length. 

 (See Fig. 4, d, where it is shown somewhat enlarged.) It is 

 of a flattish oblong form and of a 

 shining greenish-black color, each of 

 its wing-cases having three raised lines, 

 the outer two interrupted by two im- 

 pressed transverse spots of a brassy, 

 color, dividing each wing-cover into 

 three nearly equal portions. The 

 under side of the body and the legs 

 shine like burnished copper; the feet 

 are shining green. 



This pest is common almost every- 

 where, affecting alike the frosty re- 

 gions of the North, the great West, 



and the sunny South. It is much more abundant than the 

 two-striped borer, and is a most formidable enemy to apple- 

 culture. It attacks also the pear, the plum, and sometimes 

 the peach. In the Southwestern States it begins to appear 

 during the latter part of May, and is found during most of 

 the summer months ; in the Northern States and Canada its 

 time of appearance is June and July. It does not confine its 

 attacks to the base of the tree, but affects the trunk more 

 or less throughout, and sometimes the larger branches. 



The eggs, which are yellow and irregularly ribbed, arc 

 very small, about one-fiftieth of an inch long, of an ovoidal 

 form, flattened at one end, and are fastened by the female 



