362 ILLINOIS STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



The female has a body of the same color, with an orange-colored 

 band about the middle of the abdomen ; front wings blue, opaque ; 

 posterior wings transparent, margined with blue. 



The eggs are smooth, oval, of a dull yellow color, and about one- 

 fortieth of an inch long. They are usually deposited upon the bark, at 

 the surface of the ground, and the worms hatching from them work 

 downwards, at first in the bark of the root, forming a slender, flexuous 

 channel, which becomes filled with gum. At the distance of an inch or 

 two below the surface, the whole of the bark of the root becomes 

 consumed in badly infested trees, and the sap-wood is also extensively 

 gnawed, so that the root is nearly severed. 



The larger worms, in winter, usually repose with their heads upward, 

 in contact with the outer surface of the root, generally in smooth, 

 longitudinal furrows they have excavated, their backs covered with their 

 castings mingled with gum and cobwebs, forming a kind of cell. 



The larva enters the pupa state in the early part of summer, and 

 comes forth in the perfect state usually in July, though there is reason to 

 believe it often comes out in the south part of this State as early as May 

 or June. 



Various remedies have been proposed, such as raising a mound of 

 earth around the trunk ; pouring boiling water around the roots ; placing 

 around it a bed of cinders, ashes, or lime ; surrounding it with a collar 

 of mortar; enveloping the base of the trunk in matting or paper, etc., 

 and planting tanzy around the tree. 



Dr. Harris favors the mortar and matting remedy ; Dr. Fitch thinks 

 tanzy will be beneficial ; and Prof. Riley recommends strongly the mound- 

 ing process. 



There are several other jEgcria which have similar habits, and are 

 injurious to cultivated or useful plants. 



^geria tipuliformis, Linn. Currant-borer. 



This species has been introduced from Europe ; in the larval state it 

 bores into the stems of currant bushes, often doing great damage to them. 

 The eggs are laid near the bud, and the larvae produced from these pene- 

 trate the stem to the pith, in which they reside, forming a burrow of 

 several inches. 



The moth has the colored portion of the wings blue-black. 



^geria pyri, Harr. Pear-tree yEgeria. 



The larvae live under the bark of the trunk of the pear tree. Tlie 

 perfect insect is much like the moth of the currant-borer. 



^geria acerui, Clemens. Maple-tree ^E^geria. 



The larvae burrow under the bark of the soft maple, but never pene- 

 trate deeply into the solid wood. 



