15 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



S. vestita attacks the linden and in our experience works mostly 

 at the base and roots. We have never found it more than 12 inches 

 from the ground, and that seldom. It can always be found in ex- 

 posed roots and at the base of the tree close to the ground. In either 

 case the larvae usually work in the subterranean parts. Prof. F. M. 

 Webster has also noted this habit. 



S. discoidea lives under and in the bark of hickory, specially 

 dying trees or those recently killed byScolytus quadrispi- 

 n o s u s Say. It can be easily bred from a piece of dead bark. 



S. i m i t a n s is not known in its early stages but probably bores 

 in hickory and not in elm. 



S. lateralis works in hickory at some injured place near the 

 root and is partial to the base of sprouts that grow around stumps 

 on recently cleared land. 



S. f a y i makes a gall very simlar to that of concolor, but 

 breeds in the thorn. 



S. puncticollis works- in the dead branches of Virginia 

 creeper, eating the inner bark and pupating in a chamber excavated 

 in the wood. 



S. populnea feeds on the willow and poplar. S. m o e s t a 

 makes a gall on the balm of gilead, and this, we believe, is its only 

 food plant, and the form t u 1 a r i lives in willow. 



S. concolor makes a gall on poplar and willow shoots. " 



Saperda obliqua Say 



Alder borer 



This species, while rarely met with in the adult form, appears 

 to be very common in New York State, judging from the condi- 

 tion of some of the alder swamps we have visited. 



Life history and habits. This insect's method of working is 

 quite characteristic [pi. 5, fig. 3], and the badly girdled stems with 

 gall-like enlargements, are not difficult to find. The insect works 

 close to the ground in black alder, frequently girdling the trunks, 

 and in infested swamps large numbers of prostrate stems in all 

 stages of decay may be found. There are usually two or three 



