THE INSECT WORLD. 



261 



Fig. 282. 



tance up or down the cane or completely around it, for which 

 reason it has been called the "blackberry crown-borer." Signs 

 of its presence are the sudden wilting and rapid death of new 

 shoots, and it comes to maturity in early September of the 

 second year of its life, forming a pupa in the stalk itself The 

 resulting moth, Bembecia margmata, is black, very little marked 

 with yellow, and the only satisfactory remedy is cutting out and 

 destroying the larva as soon as its presence is indicated by the 

 wilting leaves. 



Perhaps the best known of all belonging to this series is the 

 "peach-borer," Sannina exitiosa. This is the pest of peach- 

 growers all over the country, and the larvae live between bark and 

 wood a little below the 

 surface of the ground in 

 a mass of gum and woody 

 material. They first 

 make their appearance 

 after midsummer, and 

 become about three- 

 fourths of an inch long 

 before winter sets in. In 

 spring they resume feed- 

 ing, attaining a length of 

 a little more than an inch, 

 then spin a cocoon of 

 silk and bits of chips 

 covered with gum, and 

 change to a pupa. In 

 this stage they remain a 

 few days and then emerge 

 as moths. The sexes are 

 very unlike, the males 

 black, with narrowly yel- 

 low-banded abdomen, 

 and entirely transparent wings ; the females much larger, the 

 fore-wings almost blackish brown and entirely covered with scales, 

 the abdomen black, with a broad orange band at about the 

 middle. The eggs are laid on the bark near the surface of the 

 ground, and the larvae hatch after midsummer in time to do con- 



The peach-borer, Sannina exitiosa; male above, 

 female below ; both enlarged. 



