INJURIOUS INSECTS. 345 



him with a wire thrust into the hole, and by a vigorous ram- 

 ming crush the culprit. If we have doubt as to the crushing, 

 we should follow him with a knife ; but in cutting out the borers 

 too great care can not be taken to wound the tree just as little 

 as possible. This heroic method is sure, and requires very little 

 time, and no person who takes pride in his orchard, or looks to 

 it as a source of profit, can afford to neglect this September 

 examination, nor the previous application of soap, to which it 

 is supplementary. 



The Flat-Headed Borer. Chrysobothi-is femorata, Fab. 

 Family, Buprestidce. Order, Coleoptera. At present this borer 

 is quite as ruinous as the preceding one, and I should not think 

 it strange if in a well balanced account it was found even 

 to surpass the other in the evil which it works to our fruit in- 

 terests. I have seen young orchards nearly ruined the first 

 summer after setting, by this devastator. Not long since a 

 nurseryman came from a distant part of the State to consult me 

 as to the ravages of this pest. He said that during the past 

 summer, in some regions of the State, more than half the trees 

 he sold were killed by this scourge, and of course he was un- 

 justly blamed. At present, no nurseryman should sell trees 

 without throwing in advice in regard to protecting against this 

 devastator; for, as we shall see, such trees are peculiarly liable 

 to attack. 



These borers are not confined to the apple-trees, as I have 

 found them working in oak, maple, and other trees of our 

 forests. 



NATURAL HISTORY. This brownish beetle (Fig. 26), with a 

 coppery luster, is found from May till August, though I have 

 found them more common in June and July. As with the striped 

 Saperda, the eggs are laid on the bark. The whitish 

 grubs (Fig. 27), with their enormous front, brown head, 

 and curled tail, usually bore only superficially, eating 

 the inner bark and sapwood; yet I have seen, and 

 have now on exhibition here at the college, sections 

 of young trees over an inch in diameter, bored completely 

 through by these big-headed rascals. They eat but a single 



e striped 



m 



