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No.145 | 
thicker than the others. They are covered with appressed white hairs upon a black 
ground, causing them to appear gray in the males and white in the females. The 
basal joint has several scattered black bristles, and upon the under side is a row of 
similar bristles lb the end of the fifth joint, and three at the tips of each of the three 
following joints. The thorax presents a slender line in its middle, which line is 
impressed posteriorly and elevated anteriorly, its anterior end being often of a white 
color. The legs are of the same color as the antenna;, the soles of the feet being pale 
brown or yellowish, and the hooks at their tips are reddish-brown. 
This insect was regarded as a new species by Mr. Say, and he 
accordingly described it in the year 1824, in the Journal of'the 
Academy of Natural Sciences, (vol. iii. p. 409,) under the name 
of Saperda bivittata or the Two-striped Saperda, which name is 
also adopted by Dr. Harris, and is currently known throughout 
our country as the scientific name of this insect. Fabricius long 
since very briefly noticed a species (Entomologia Systematica, 
vol. i. 6. p. 307,) which he found in the museum of Dr. Hunter, 
the native country of w'hich w'as unknown, under the name of 
Saperda Candida , or the White Saperda. He merely says of this 
insect that it is white, above fuscous with two white stripes, and 
With obtuse, smooth elytra. As Dr. Hunter’s museum contained 
many insects from this country, Prof. Haldeman and Dr. Le Conte 
regard our Apple tree borer as being without doubt the S. Can¬ 
dida of Fabricius. In this they are probably correct; but as our 
insect is clearly of an umber and not a fuscous brown color, an<^ 
has punctured elytra, marks which are at variance with the Fa- 
brician account, I deem it more safe to retain the name given by 
Mr. Say, connected with which there is no query, until our insect 
has been compared with the specimen, which is probably still in 
existence, from w T hich Fabricius drew his description. 
Among the means provided by the Author of Nature for de¬ 
stroying this borer and keeping it from becoming unduly multi¬ 
plied, the woodpeckers of our country, and particularly the 
Downy woodpecker (Picus pubescens, Lin.), which is so frequently 
seen in our orchards, stands conspicuous. This gay bird seems 
to have been endowed with the habits and furnished with the 
organs which it possesses, for the express purpose of enabling it 
to discover and prey upon the Apple-tree borer and similar 
larvae. As these worms place themselves under the bark, down 
