52 



Of the long-horned wood-boring beetles, the Cerambycidae, the only species which 

 'seems to infest the willow here is Saperda mutica, Say. It is a handsome beetle, about 

 ■•five-eighths of an inch in length, of a blackish colour, but more or less clothed, especially 



Fig. 34. 



beneath, with an ochreous or tawny pubescence, There is a bright stripe of this pubes 

 -cence on the head ; the thorax has three bands, one on the back and one on each side, and 

 the elytra are prettily mottled. The habits of this beetle are not, so far as I know, 

 recorded, but I think it undoubtedly a borer in our native willows, upon which I have 

 taken it (on one occasion in the act of copulating) in June and July. 



This beetle belongs to an interesting genus, of which there are thirteen American 

 species, all of which occur in Ontario, and the habits of which are well known to be very 

 injurious to various trees. S. calcarata, to which mutica is very near, is the poplar 

 borer ; Candida (Fig. 35) is the apple tree borer ; Fayi attacks the small limbs of thorns ; 

 'sretata has been destructive to apple trees ; vestita is the common enemy of the basswood, 



Fig. 35. 



and also attacks the European linden, which is planted as a shade tree in many towns in 

 Ontario ; discoidea bores severely in hickories ; tridentata and lateralis attack the elm ; 

 punciicoll 'is hit Vsts grape vim-s and probably the Virginia creeper; moesta produces un- 

 sightly gall-like swellings on the limbs of poplars , and concolor, the last of the species, is 

 another inhabitant of the willows. 



The habits of Saperda concolor are described by Dr. Hamilton in a paper which will 

 be found in Ann. Report Xo. xvm. The larva? bore in the canes of Salix longifolia, 

 often causing their death the following year. ^ 



The Chrysomelida^ is a family of beetles which contains a great many species, mostly 

 of small size, but often doing great damage to vegetation by their immense numbers ; 

 feeding for the most part, both in the larval and perfect stages, upon foliage. In appear- 

 ance the larvae and beetles of the larger species much resemble the Colorado potato-beetle, 

 the different stages of which are well shown in Fig. 36 : b, b, b, larvae at different stages : 

 c, tiie pupa ; d, d, the beetle. 



Cfirysomela Bigsby'ina, Kirby, and C. spirea, Say, are two species found upon native 

 willows. They are not quite so large as the potato-beetle and are more prettily marked, 

 having the head and thorax bronzed or greenish, and the wing-covers pale with sutural 

 lines and scattered dots of brown. The larvae are pale, stout grubs, feeding upon the 

 leares of various plants. 



