February, '17] BECKER: PEACH-TREE BORER 51 



The process of emergence, once the skin is spht, requires only 20-35 

 seconds. After emergence the insect crawls up on top of its deserted 

 pupal skin, on the trunk of a tree or clod of dirt. At this stage the 

 wings are plastered down on the back. In about 15 minutes the wings 

 begin to raise up off the body and have the appearance of becoming 

 inflated. This requires several minutes. During this the wings grad- 

 ually straighten out and assume shape. Following this they are waved 

 a time or two and are then held vertically over the back for about 

 five minutes. They are then brought down over the back as in the 

 normal insect when at rest and in about twenty minutes, in the case 

 of the moths which we observed, the insect is ready for flight. 



Date of Emergence 



Records on the date of emergence yielded some interesting results 

 and suggested a line of investigation which might bring some inter- 

 esting facts to light if it could be interpreted with careful temperature, 

 humidity and other climatological records. 



The records were made by going over the same orchard at intervals 

 of three to seven days and collecting all the pupal skins which ap- 

 peared around the bases of the trees since the last observations. All 

 rubbish, etc., was cleared from around each tree before the first obser- 

 vation was made. Pupal skins collected at each observation would 

 then indicate the number of moths which had emerged since the 

 last observation. 



Since practically all of the borers pupate either right at, or within 

 a radius of two inches of the tree and since the pupal skins are usually 

 held fast to the cocoon for some time after emergence, it would be pos- 

 sible to get a rather accurate record of emergence. 



Regarding the pupation of the insect and their emergence with 

 reference to the tree, the following data on 258 insects are offered : 



No. Per 

 cent 

 Pupated and emerged from trunk of tree 5 2 . 



Pupated in and emerged from soil immediately against tree 102 39.5 



Pupated in and emerged from soil within a radius of 1 inch from trunk of 



tree 114 44. 



Pupated in and emerged from soil within a radius of 1 to 2 inches from 



trunk of tree 22 8.5 



Pupated in and emerged from soil within a radius of 2 to 3 inches from 



trunk of tree 8 3. 



Pupated in and emerged from soil within a radius of 3 to 4 inches from <* 



trunk of tree 5 2. 



Pupated in and emerged from soil at a distance of 6 inches from trunk of 



tree 1 • 5 



Pupated in and emerged from soil at a distance of 8 inches from trunk of 



tree 1 .6 



