166 Bulletin 176. 



Its Name. 



The destructive or " borer '' stage of this insect was doubtless 

 known to peach-growers in the first half of the last century. The 

 adult or moth stage of the pest seems to have been known since 

 about 1770. By 1800, some peach-growers had obtained a fairly 

 accurate knowledge of its life, but it apparently received no scien- 

 tiiic name until 1804: or 1805. In 1804 Dr. Barton received the 

 Magellanic premium from the American Philosophical Society for 

 an essay on " A l^umber of the Pernicious Insects of the United 

 States." Harris recorded in 1826 that Dr. Barton named and 

 described the insect as Zygmna lyersicm in this essay, of which Dr. 

 Mease had published an extract ; ^ we have been unable to discover 

 if this essay was ever published. Dr. Barton used the name of 

 persicaeiov this insect in 1805, but if he published a description in 

 connection with this name, it has not yet been found; hence the 

 peach-tree borer's first and very appropriate scientific name of per- 

 sicce has been supplanted by another. It is of interest to note that 

 the name persicce or persica w^as also independently proposed for 

 the insect by Harris in 1823 and Thomas in 1824. 



In 1823, specimens of the moth of the peach-tree ])orer wei*e sul)- 

 mitted to Say, and he named and described them as exitiosa / and 

 the insect is now known by this specific name the world over.f 



* Harris says: '' Barton having first described this insect, the name which he 

 has imposed has tlic priority, and must be retained." He then describes the 

 male and female, using Barton's name; he refers to Say's name in a preceding 

 paragraph. And yet four years later we find Harris using only Say's name, and 

 never referring to Barton's name in any of his subsequent writings. We can 

 find no explanation by Harris for his rejection of Barton's name. 



f Bibliographical references showing the different scientific names which have 

 been applied to the peach-tree borer and the different genera in which it has been 

 l)laced, arranged by Mr. Beutenmiiller. 



Zi/g(ena persiae. 1805. Barton, B. S., Phil. Med. and Phys. Journal, I., pt. ii, 

 p. 29. No description of moth. 



Aegeria exitiosa. 1823. Sa3% Jour. Acad. Nat. Sci., HI., 210. Original 

 description. 



Apispersica. 1824. Thomas, American Farmer, YI., 37. 



Paranthrene pepsidifoimis. 1825. Iliihncr, Zut. E.xot, Schmctt., p. 32, figs. 

 533-534. Good figures of female. 



