1266 



Ri-RAi. School Leaflet 



THE PEACH-TREE BORER 



Sanninoidea exiiiosa 



Appearance oj the insect. — The mother of the peach-tree borer is a hand- 

 some moth, with a wing expanse of a little more than an inch, steel-blue 

 in color -with a single or a double orange-yeUow band around the abdo- 

 men. The fore wings are covered with steel-blue scales, but the hind 

 wings are largely transparent. All four wings of the male moth are 

 transparent. The borer, or the larva of this moth, is a whitish cater- 

 pillar about one inch long when full-grown. 



Adult moths of the peach-tree borer, natural size. The upper one and 

 the one at the right are females 



Story of its life. — The female moth deposits her tiny eggs on the trunk 

 of a peach tree in July and August. They hatch, and the small larv^as 

 go down the trunk to the ground where they gnaw their way into the irmer 

 bark and sapwood of the tree. They become partly grown by fall and pass 

 the winter either in their burrows beneath the bark or in silken coverings 

 made for protection during this inactive period. In the spring they become 

 active and complete their growth during June and July. Each lar\^a 

 when full-grown, forms a rough brown elongated cocoon made of silk with 

 bits of bark and waste materials entangled in it. The cocoons are placed 

 at the base of the tree at or near the surface of the ground. After three 



