250 Peach-Growing 



tance have recently been set forth by Quaintance and 

 Wood.i 



At present its known distribution in this country is con- 

 fined to the District of Columbia and its near environs in 

 ]\Iaryland and Virginia and to a few recently discovered 

 centers where it has evidently existed for several years. 

 While it has been observed to attack different species of 

 plums and cherries, its preference for the peach appears to 

 be rather decided. 



The work of the "worm" or larva on peach trees is very 

 like that of the peach twig-borer previously described. 

 Some of its characteristics are similar also to that insect. 

 For instance, a single larva may bore into the terminal 

 shoot of several branches. As the twigs harden the worms 

 may feed more or less on the exterior, since they seem to 

 prefer young tender shoots, and work in them until new ones 

 cease to develop for the season. The places where feeding 

 occurs on the exterior of the twigs are often marked by the 

 exudation of gum. 



As a peach insect its work in the fruit is of very much 

 more serious import than its damage to the growth of the 

 tree. While there is an abundance of tender growing shoots 

 the fruit appears largely to escape, but when the period of 

 most active growth is past the worms become a serious factor 

 in the fruit. Thus the early varieties are not much in- 

 fested, while with some of the midseason and especially the 

 late varieties practically all the fruit has been infested in 

 some cases. 



In attacking the fruit, the worm usually eats through the 

 skin near the attachment of the stem to the fruit, or at some 



1 Journal of Agr. Research, Vol. VII, No. 8 (Nov. 20, 1916), pp. 

 373-377. 



