30 
marked, somewhat flattened, the first segment reddish and leathery 
above, the last with a broad yellowish patch. 
The moth (Fig. 29) has a black head, a deep brown thorax 
more or less marked with bright chestnut-red, and a black abdomen 
sometimes marked with chestnut, Imt sometimes with a small yel- 
low spot on each side of the fourth segment, or with the segments 
banded with yellow. Tlie femora are black, the anterior pair of 
the tibia; orange, the middle and hind libire black with orange bands. 
Fig. 29. Lilac Borer, rodo'^esia sijiinga, adult. 
Slighih' enlarged. 
The tarsi are yellow, the hind pair with a Ijlack l)and above. The 
fore wings are deep brown, with a violaceous luster and usually 
with a rusty red dash on, the outer part. At the base is a transpar- 
ent streak. The hind wings are transparent and yellowish, the 
veins, discal marks, and margins deep brown, sometimes tinged 
with red. 
The spread of the wings is from an inch to nearly an inch and 
a half, the females being considerably larger than the males. 
This insect is very abundant and destructive, especially to the 
green ash in Chicago parks, and has been Ijred by us also from the 
white ash at Kankakee. Its injury is very noticeable and character- 
istic, especially on the trunks of small trees. Sometimes the smaller 
branches break off at the point of injury, but this does not usually 
happen until after the moth has escaped. George D. Hulst says. 
writing of these insects in New York : "In this section they are 
very destructive to both lilac and English ash. Large shrubs of 
lilac are now very rarely seen, and the English ash is being rapidly 
exterminated. In the latter I have seen the wood completely rid- 
dled with the holes made by the larv.x and the entire tree dead." 
To check the multiplication of the species and the spread of the 
injury it will be sufficient to cut away and burn infested branches 
