New York Agricultural Experiment Station. 441 

 PEACH INSECTS. 



BORER. 



{Sannina exitiosa Say.) 



Description. — The adult insects are beautiful moths. The male 

 measures about an inch and the female an inch and a half from 

 tip to tip of the expanded wings. The general color is deep steel 

 blue. The female has a broad band of orange across the abdo- 

 men. They appear during May and early June. The eggs are 

 usually deposited on the bark at or near the surface of the ground, 

 although they are sometimes deposited higher up on the trunk 

 and even upon the larger limbs. The eggs are only a few days 

 in hatching and the young larva? quickly work their way into 

 the sap wood where they feed during the remainder of the season. 

 They remain dormant during the winter in their burrows, form 

 a cocoon and finally issue as moths as above indicated. There is 

 but one brood annually. 



Treatment. — As preventive treatment numerous washes have 

 been suggested. In a series of expriements which included 

 a large number of trunk washes Slingerland^^ reports the best 

 success with gas tar. The tar was warmed slightly to facilitate 

 handling and applied to the trunk. It " apparently kept out 

 four-fifths of all the borers, only a small percentage of the trees 

 became infested and no injury resulted to the trees." Professor 

 Slingerland also states that in his experience "the tar did not 

 interfere with the growth of the trees in the least." This treat- 

 ment should be combined with the digging out method. He also 

 states that in this State the applications of washes, such as gas 

 tar, should be made between June 15 and July 1, and "should 

 remain in perfect working order until October 1.^' It should be 

 remarked that gas tar is a substance of very variable composition 

 and instances are known where disastrous results to the trees 

 followed its use in the manner which is here described. 



35 Cornell Univ. Agr. Exp. Sta. Bui. ISO, i)p. 217, 224-225. 



