REPORT OF THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 255 



have many long, stiff bristles on their bodies. Instead of boring through 

 the bark they seek a crack, and an almost incredibly small oue will sufiice. 

 An article has been going the rounds of the agricultural journals 

 advising a new remedy for the jieach-tree borer. We quote from the 

 Kansas Farmer, March 28, 1880: 



Tho best yvny to prevent the borer from getting into your trees, and the best because 

 easiest, speediest, and qmckest of all preventives, is to scrape with a hoe tiie soil from 

 around the collar of the tree down to the branching of the roots, and bind a handful 

 of straight straw around the body of the tree; seeming the straw in place with a small 

 cord, retiun the soil, which will keep the butts of the straw in xilace. Keuew the 

 straw every spring, and be careful that the straw covers the bark, leaving -no gaps 

 exposed, and a jjeach-tree borer will never disturb the orchard. We practiced this 

 plan on a peach orchard for several years, and never had a tree thus protected injured, 

 while one left exposed wassure to be attacked. 



The straw certainly would be efficacious in keeping the moths from 

 depositing their eggs on the bark which is thus protected, but higher 

 up the tree would not have the same freedom; and it is not uncommon 

 that the larvae of this insect are found boring into the trunk of a tree 

 several feet from the ground. Inasmuch, however, as it would be much 

 easier to watch for the borers and destroy them on the upper part of the 

 trunk than at the base, this remedy might prove of advantage. 



Four species of jjarasites have been bred from the peach-tree borer the 

 past season — two chalcids and two small ichneumonids, the one belong- 

 ing to the genus Microgaster and the other to the genus Bracon. These 

 will be described and figured in a future article. 



Anarsia ltneatella Zeller. — This insect has long been known as 

 a serious pest in peach orchards, destroying the terminal twigs of the 

 trees. The young caterpillar begins its work in the spring, at the time 

 or soon after the shoots begin to grow. These, when from one-half inch 

 to one inch in length, are punctured at the base and are eaten oft" com- 

 pletely. The leaves of the bud unfold and then wither. The twig, al- 

 though severed, does not drop off, but is held in place by the gummy 

 substance which exudes from the wound. Occasionally aU the twigs on 

 a tree are thus destroyed. This insect has also "been found \>y Mr. Wm. 

 Saunders boring into the crown and roots of stiawberries in Ontario.* 

 And during the past summer I found the peculiar reddish larvae in 

 peaches which were grown on Blackistone Island, Virginia. A search 

 revealed them also in peaches on the department grounds. The larva 

 leaves the peach before transforming, and suspends itself to the outside 

 of the fruit, spinning no cocoon at all. The twig-inhabiting individuals 

 mature in this latitude during May and June. The fruit-inhabiting 

 larvae are found during the latter part of July and in August, and 

 mature during September. It thus appears that the species is two 

 brooded : the early brood feeding in the terminal twigs and buds, while 

 the later brood inhabits the fruit. 



As a remedy, the trees should be examined early in May, and all dying 

 1 wigs pruned and burned, thus destroying the larvae. 



An interesting chalcid parasite has been bred from this insect, which 

 we have not had time to describe and name for this report. 



The lesie-teee winter-moth {Eibemia tiliaria Harris). — I have 

 received quite a full account of this insect from Mr. D. W. Coquillett, of 

 "Woodstock, 111,, but for want of space I am compelled to condense it 

 briefly in the form of this note. 



It seems that this insect has been doing considerable damage to the 

 orchards in l!Torthern Illinois during the past few years. Many species 



'Annual Report Ent. Soc, Ontario, 1872. 



