SPOTTED APPLE-TREE BORER. 5 



in width at the widest point. Eggs in normal position are sur- 

 rounded by a waxy semi transparent substance, which excludes air 

 and probably shuts out natural enemies. 



The eggs are placed between the bark and wood at the side of 

 vertical slits in the bark which the female beetle makes with her jaws. 

 (PL III, A, B, C.) These slits, or oviposition scars, may be along the 

 central or upper portions of the trunk or in the branches. They are 

 often accompanied by a chain of shallow punctures extending above 

 and below the oviposition scar, the line of marks resembling the im- 

 pression that would be made by pressing the cutting edge of a fine- 

 toothed saw against the bark. (PL III, A.) In some cases only one 

 egg is placed in a slit and in other cases a pair are deposited, one on 

 each side of the opening. The eggs occupy an oblique position to 

 the line of punctures and are thrust back under the bark from 2 to 3 

 mm. from the slit at the nearest point. (PL II, E.) Four eggs laid 

 on June 29 were kept under observation until July 20 and were then 

 lost by accident, apparently as they were just ready to hatch. This 

 indicates a period of incubation of something over three weeks. 



THE LARVA. 



The larva (PL I, B; PL III, D, E; PL IV, A) is a whitish, deeply 

 segmented, footless, sparsely bristled grub, having a brown head with 

 black jaws and a broad, convex, papillose, shield-like plate on the 

 dorsum of the pro thorax. Full-grown larvae are from 25 to 30 mm. 

 in length and about 5 mm. in width at the prothorax. The pro thoracic 

 segment is widest, the segments tapering to the fourth, and from there 

 being uniform in width to the twelfth. The thirteenth segment 

 narrows to a blunt point. To the casual observer the larva of this 

 species is indistinguishable from that of Saperda Candida. 



In the latitude of West Virginia the larvae hatch and begin feeding 

 at any time from the latter part of July until some time in September. 

 During the first season the larval excavations are in the form of 

 more or less circular or roughly elongate burrows on one or both 

 sides (according to whether there are one or two larvae present) of 

 the oviposition scar. (PL III, D, E.) At first fine, sawdust-like 

 castings issuing from the oviposition scars mark the presence of the 

 feeding borers. 



The second season the borer enters the wood, forming a ragged, 

 winding burrow that leads ultimately to the heart. Here, in the 

 center of the wood, it mines, usually going upward 5 or 6 inches, 

 where it finally pupates at the upper end of the gallery, after having 

 terminated its burrow with an abrupt curve outward to the inner 

 bark. (PL I, E, F; PL IV, A, B.) As the borer feeds it ejects part 

 of its castings through the bark and packs the rest in unoccupied 

 corners of its burrow. The burrow below the pupal chamber is 



