INSECTS ATTACKING I.AKGK I'UUITS. 91 



PEA.CH-TREE BORER. 



{Mrjeria exiliosa Say; Order. Lepidoptera.) 



[)la<jiiiid>^. — -Attacking the peach; the tree, badly attacked, 

 giving indications of approaching death ; at the base of the trunk, 

 next to the ground and just below it, and on the large roots (ex- 

 amined by uncovering them), gummy exudations mingled with 

 wood dust. On cutting into the root, following one of these 

 gummy burrows, a naked, soft, pale whitish-yellow, sixteen-footed 

 grub about one-half inch long is found. 



Description, and Lifc-hidorij. — The adult insect is a beautiful, 

 clear-winged, day-flying moth, with glossy, steel-blue body, crossed 

 by a broad band of orange-yellow. The wings expand about 1 2 

 inches. 



The eggs are laid on the bark of the tree, at the surface of the 



ground, during the sum- 

 mer. The larva?, soon 

 hatching, burrow in and 

 down to the inner bark 

 and sap-wood of the lar- 

 ger roots, upon which 

 they feed. Their bur- 

 FiG. 5(1. I'EAOH-TKEE i5<)REK: 1, fwuiiie: 2. m;.ie. I'owing causes a profusc 



exudation of gum, 

 which, mixed with the wood dust, produces a noticeable mass 

 around the roots of the tree. 



The larva, when full-grown, is fully half an inch long, soft, 

 cylindrical, pale whitish-yellow, with horny, reddish head and 

 strong, black jaws. It has eight pairs of feet, and there are a 

 few scattered hairs on the otherwise naked body. 



The larvic continue feeding for nearly a year, interrupted only 

 by the winter months. When ready to pupate, the larva crawls 

 upward nearl}"^ to the surface of the ground and builds a tight 

 case of silk, gum, and its own castings, within which it pupates. 

 The pupal state lasts about three weeks. The moth then issues, 

 and the eggs are laid. The larva enters the pupal state in south- 

 ern Kansas in April (see D. Doyle, Report Kansas State Horti- 

 cultural Society, 1885, p. 12), and appears as an adult (the moth) 

 in Mav and June. 



