THE LINDEN TREE BORER. 



91 



103. Linden Tree 

 Beetle. 



It differs from the larva of the Linden tree borer (Saperda 

 vewtita) in the body being shorter, broader, more hairy, with 

 the tip of the abdomen flatter and more hairy. The protho- 

 rncic segme'nt is broader and flatter, and the rough portion 

 of the dorsal plates is larger and less tranversely ovate. The 

 structure of the head shows that its generic distinctness from 

 Saperda is well founded, as the head is 

 smaller and flatter, the clypeus being twice 

 as large, and the labrum broad and short, 

 while in S. vestita it is longer than broad. 

 The mandibles are much longer and slenderer, 

 and the antennae are much smaller than in 

 S. vestita. 



The Linden tree borer (Fig. 103) is a green- 

 ish snuff-yellow beetle, with six black spots 

 near the middle of the back ; and it is about 

 eight-tenths of an inch in length, though 

 often smaller. The beetles, according to Dr. 

 Paul Swift, as quoted by Dr. Harris, were 

 found (in Philadelphia) upon the small branches and leaves on 

 the 28th day of May, and it is said that they come out as early 

 as the first of the month, and continue to make their- way 

 through the 

 back of the I 



trunk and large 

 branches dur- 

 ing the whole 

 of the warm 

 season. They 

 immediately fly 

 into the top of 

 the tree, and 

 there feed upon 

 the epidermis 

 of the tender 

 twigs, and the 

 petioles of the 104 - Linden Tree Borer, 



leaves, often wholly denuding the latter, and causing the leaves 

 to fall. They deposit their eggs, two or three in a r place, upon 

 the trunk or branches especially about the forks, making slight 

 incisions or punctures for their reception with their strong 



