65fi EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



such as oak, maple, and young fruit trees, be distributed ou the out- 

 skirts of the orchard, where they should be freely exposed to the sun 

 so that the beetles will deposit their eggs on them. This trap wood 

 should then be destroyed before the beetles emerge the following 

 spring. 



The peach borer — experiments with hydraulic cement, J. B. 

 Smith (New Jersey IStas. Bui. 138, pp. 28, Jigs. 7). — The peach-tree borer 

 (Sanninoidea cxitiosa) is well known to peach growers and causes con- 

 siderable loss annually. In general orchards on light soils are said to 

 suffer more than those on heavy soils, while in some stony orchards the 

 trees are almost exempt. Many methods of prevention, some of them 

 effective, have been proposed to prevent injury, and the author deter- 

 mined upon a series oT experiments in 1897 partly to test some of the 

 applications themselves and partly to discover the reason for contra- 

 dictory results. It was discovered at the outset that there was a great 

 lack of definiteness in our knowledge of the life history of the insect 

 and that statements heretofore made, while mostly true, were lacking 

 in completeness. On this account a rather full study of the early stages 

 of the insect was made and the earlier published accounts of Say and 

 others reviewed. 



It appears that the larva becomes full grown some time between the 

 last of May and the first of August. It forms a cocoon of sawdust, 

 excrement, and silk, in which it changes to a pupa. The moths begin 

 to emerge some time during the latter part of June and continue until 

 the first days of September. The sexes are produced in about equal 

 numbers, copulate soon after issuance, the female beginning to lay eggs 

 immediately thereafter, placing them anywhere on the trunk and even 

 on the branches 5 ft. or more from the ground. The eggs never seem 

 to be deposited at the surface of the ground or very close to it, but will 

 mostly be found to 18 in. above the ground. The adult life is short, 

 perhaps only a day or two, and the female lays in that time between 

 500 and 000 eggs. The egg period is said to be probably 7 to 10 days 

 and the young larvae may crawl or bore almost anywhere, but sooner or 

 •later work their way to the base of the tree, where they may be found 

 from the surface to 18 in. underground. The winter is passed in the 

 larval stage in the tree and growth is resumed in the spring until ready 

 for pupation. About the middle of July all stages, from egg to adult, 

 may be found in a badly infested orchard. These dates apply only to 

 New Jersey and Long Island. 



A rather comprehensive description of the insect is given in which 

 it is stated that the caterpillars are white, except the head and part of 

 the first segment, which are yellowish and become brown. Along the 

 sides is a series of almost round yellowish dots, and scattered over 

 the surface, arising from definitely arrauged smooth warts, are short, 

 stiff, bristly hairs, more prominent in young than in the mature larva. 

 The aiial end of the larva is also brown. The caterpillar changes little 



