APPLE-TRUNK BOKER THE LARVA. 17 



win, as follows : " The borer first made a flexuous channel up- 

 wards, under the bark, a distance of two feet, the channel be- 

 coming gradually larger as the worm had increased in size- 

 Having traced its burrow tlms far by means of a pointed twig, 

 for (said my informant) whenever I find one of these fellows in 

 my trees I am after him immediately « with a sharp stick,' I 

 found he had bored directly through the centre or heart of the 

 tree, which was four inches in diameter, taking a cpurse slightly 

 upwards, so that after loosening and removing some of the stuff- 

 ing in the hole, I discovered my rod had pricked through the 

 bark on the opposite side of the tree, and yet did not encounter 

 the worm ; but on examining upon this side of the tree I found, 

 having not quite completed his feast, he had gone upwards 

 in the sap-wood three inches further, where I finally discovered 

 ' the gentleman.' He evidently h*d finished his travels, for he ■ 

 was an inch and a half io length, was sluggish and inactive, and 

 to all appearances was about changing to a pupa." According to 

 Dr. Harris (Treatise on New England Insects, page 95,) the larva 

 state of this insect continues from two to three years. 



Mr. T. B. Ashton, of Whitecreek, New- York, informs me that 

 he has in different years captured about one hundred and fifty of 

 these beetles in their perfect state, and that only one-third of 

 these have been females. According to his observations the time of 

 their appearance varies somewhat, as the season is more forward 

 or backward, but commonly, here in Washington county, forty 

 miles north of Albany, they begin to be found upon the trees 

 about the 20th of June, from which time until the close of the 

 month they appear to be more numerous than they are afterwards. 



The mature worm varies consvierably in its size, hut is most commonly rather leps 

 than an inch hiBg, and over a quarter of ^n inch in diameter anteriorly at its broadest 

 part. It is of a cylindrical form, the second segment being bulged and rather broader 

 than the others. It is soft and fleshy, and of a very • pale yellpw or a white color- 

 The head ischestnut-brown, polished and Jiorny, with scattered hairs; the upper 

 jaws .(mandibles) are d<eep black, sloped at their lips, which Are obtusely rouDded9 

 between tbem appears the labriim or upper lip, of a tawny yellow color, and 

 densely clothed with short hairs; the throat is also pale tawny yellow. The feelers 

 j[palpi) consist of a conical, three-jointed process, on the under side of each mandible, 

 and jjMeried u^on tJie ]o«er jaw (maxilla), the tip of which slightly projects in the 



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