234 INSECTS OF MASSACHUSETTS. 



colored belt. It expands an inch and a half, or more. This in- 

 sect does not confine its attacks to the peach-tree. I have re- 

 peatedly obtained both sexes from borers inhabiting the excres- 

 cences which are found on the trunks and limbs of the cherry- 

 tree ; and moreover, I have frequently taken them in connexion 

 on the trunks of cherry and of peach trees. They sometimes 

 deposit their eggs in the crotches of the branches of the peach- 

 tree, where the borers will subsequently be found ; but the injury, 

 sustained by their operations in such parts, bears no comparison to 

 that resulting from their attacks at the base of the tree, which they 

 too often completely girdle, and thus cause its premature decay 

 and death. The following plan, which was recommended by me 

 in the year 1S26, and has been tried with complete success by 

 several persons in this vicinity, will effectually protect the neck, 

 or most vital part of the tree, from injury. Remove the earth 

 around the base of the tree, crush and destroy the cocoons and 

 borers which may be found in it, and under the bark, cover the 

 wounded parts with the common clay composition, and surround 

 the trunk with a strip of sheathing-paper eight or nine inches 

 wide, which should extend two inches below the level of the soil, 

 and be secured with strings of matting above. Fresh mortar 

 should then be placed around the root, so as to confine the paper 

 and prevent access beneath it, and the remaining cavity may be 

 filled with new or unexhausted loam. This operation should be 

 performed in the spring or during the month of June. In the 

 winter the strings may be removed, and in the following spring 

 the trees should again be examined for any borers that may have 

 escaped search before, and the protecting applications should be 

 renewed. 



In Europe there is a species of JEgeria, named by Linnaeus 

 tipuliformis, which has long been known to inhabit the stems of 

 the currant-bush. This, or an insect closely resembling it, is far 

 too common in America, in the cultivated currant, with which it 

 may have been introduced from Europe. The caterpillars are 

 produced from eggs laid singly, near the buds ; when hatched, 

 they penetrate the stem to the pith, which they devour, and thus 

 form a burrow of several inches in length in the interior of the 

 stem. As the borer increases in size, it enlarges the hole com- 



