The Peach-Tree Borek. 179 



trated in figure 57, used as a tail-piece on the last page; and how 

 few peach-growers over saw the insect in any except the '' borer " 

 or second stage of its Hfe. And yet, our more successful fruit- 

 growers are fast realizing that they must know more, and, in fact, 

 cannot know too much, about the lives and habits of their insect 

 foes in order to fight them the most successfully. 



The peach-tree borer, like most other insects, begins life as an 

 egg, and, logically, we should begin the story of its life with this 

 stage, but for various reasons we prefer to start with the insect in 

 its winter quarters. 



Hoio and where the winter is spent. — The peach-tree borer 

 always passes the winter in the larva or "• borer " stage ; this seems 

 to be true wherever the insect occurs, even in the extreme south. 

 In most of the Southern States the borers apparently get most of 

 their growth befoi'e winter, and thus the hibernating larva are 

 mostly large or nearly full-grown. In the Northern States and 

 Canada, however, most of the hibernating borers are usually less 

 than half -grown. Sometimes, during a long and favorable season 

 in the North, many of the borers will attain one-half or more of 

 their growth before winter ; this happened in New York in 1898, 

 so that many of the borers we found in hibernation at Ithaca on 

 January 5, 1899, were large, some of them three-fourths grown. 

 In most localities, however, both North and South, borers of all 

 sizes, from those only one-eighth grown to those nearly full-grown, 

 may be found in the trees during the winter. 



Our observations indicate that in New York State most of the 

 larger borers hibernate in their burrows just beneath the bark and 

 below the surface of the soil, while most of those which are less 

 than half-grown pass the winter curled up in a thin half-cocoon-like 

 structure built over themselves on the outside of the bark in the 

 exuded gum, usually at the upper end of their burrows and at or 

 near the surface of the ground. This winter home or hihernaculum 

 of the peach-tree borer is a thin affair, with a smooth interior, and is 

 made of bits of f rass or particles of bark fastened together with silken 

 threads, which simply covers the borer as it rests curled up on the 

 bark. As these hibernaculums are usually surrounded with the 

 sticky gum which exudes from infested ti'ees, their principal use 



