SB 
818 
C578 No. 54. 
ENT nited States Department of Agriculture, 
DIVISION OF ENTOMOLOGY. 
L. O. HOWARD, Entomologist. 
THE PEACH-TREE BORER.* 
(Sannina exitiosa Say.) 
By L. C. MARLATT. 
Entomologist in charge of Haperimental Field Work. 
GENERAL APPEARANCE AND METHOD OF WORK. 
The brownish, gummy exudations, more or less soiled with earth and 
the larval excrement, about the bases of peach trees, and also, to a less 
extent, of the cherry and plum and other stone fruits, are familiar to 
Fig. 1.—Sannina exitiosa: ‘a, adult female; 6, adult male; ec, full- 
grown larva; d, female pupa; e, male pupa; f, pupa skin partially 
extruded from cocoon—all natural size (original). 
all growers. These exudations indicate the presence of the peach-tree 
borer, which undergoes its development just within the bark, mining 
between the bark and the sapwood, often completely girdling and 
causing the death of trees, and always greatly injuring and weaken- 
ing them. The parent of this larva is not often seen. It is a very 
slender, dark-blue moth, wasp-like in appearance, and presenting 
remarkable differences between the two sexes. The mimicking of the 
wasp is especially noticeable in the case of the male insect, the wings 
of which are transparent, bordered with steel-blue, which is the gen- 
eral color of the body in both sexes. The fore-wings of the female are 
blue and clothed with scales, while the hind-wings are transparent, 
resembling those of the male. The middle of the abdomen of the 
female is marked by a broad orange band covering the fourth, or 
fourth and fifth segments. The male expands about one inch and the 
female an inch and a half or more. 
ORIGIN AND DISTRIBUTION. 
The peach-tree borer is a native species,and wasdescribed by Thomas 
Say, of Philadelphia, early in the last century. It had then been 
*This circular replaces No. 17, new series. 
15165—No. 54—06 M 
