LEPIDOPTERA 



637 



often occur on the trunk and larger branches. This borer rarely 

 attacks perfectly sound, uninjured trees and is not a serious pest in 

 orchards that receive good care. Both sexes of the adult resemble 

 the male of the peach-tree borer, having both fore and hind wings 

 transparent. 



The imported currant borer, Chamxsphecia tipulijormis. — This is a 

 small species, the adult having a wing-expanse of only about i8 mm. 

 There are but few scales on either pair of wings except on the tip and 

 discal vein of the fore wings and the outer margin of the hind wings. 

 The eggs are laid on the twigs of currant. The larvae penetrate the 

 stem, and devour the pith ; in this way they make a burrow in which 

 they live and undergo their transformations. The perfect insects 

 appear in June. Before this time the leaves of the infested plant turn 

 yellow. If such plants be cut and burned in May the pest will be 

 destroyed. 



The squash-vine borer, MelUtia satyriniformis . — The larva of this 

 species (Fig. 780) does great damage by eating the interior of squash- 

 vines; it also 

 sometimes in- 

 fests pump- 

 kin-vines and 

 those of cu- 

 cumber and 

 melon. It is 

 most destruc- 

 tive to late 

 squash es . 

 When full- 

 grown the lar- 

 vae leave the 



vines and enter the ground, where they make tough silken cocoons, a 

 short distance below the surface, in which the winter is passed. The 

 adults appear soon after their food-plants start growth. The fore 

 wings of the adult are covered with scales and the hind legs are 

 fringed with long, orange-colored scales. To check the ravages of 

 this pest, the vines should be collected and destroyed as soon as 

 the crop is harvested in order to destroy the larvae that are still in 

 them; the land should be harrowed in the fall to expose the cocoons 

 and then plowed deeply the following spring in order to bury them so 

 deeply that the moths can not emerge. If the vine is covered with earth 

 two or three feet from its base it will produce a new root system which 

 will sustain the plant in case the main stem is injured at the base. 

 Where late squashes are grown early squashes can be used as trap 

 plants. Borers can be removed from the vines with a knife; when 

 this is done the vine should be cut lengthwise, and, after the larva is 

 removed, the vine covered with earth; if this is done carefully the 

 wound will soon heal. 



The pine clear-wing moth, Parharmonia plni. — Frequently there 

 may be seen on the trunks of pine-trees large masses of resinous gum 



-jSo.—Mclittia 



ifiiformis, 



squash-vine 



