150 



the moth for the first time, I dared not take it with the naked 

 hand, so sure was I that it was a wasp." 



These moths begin to appear about the tenth of July in 

 Massachusetts, but specimens are often observed as late as 

 September, indicating that different individuals appear dur- 

 ing quite a long period. They fly freely during the daytime, 

 in this regard departing from the habits of most moths, and 

 adopting those of the wasps they so closely resemble. 



The eggs of the peach borer are laid during July, August, 

 and perhaps in the early part of September, on the trunks of 

 the trees. As a rule, they are laid singly and on the lower 

 two feet, though in some cases they may be placed higher, 

 and no particular place is selected for their deposition. 

 They hatch in a week or ten days, and the borer at once works 

 its way into the bark, but seems to try to reach the base of 

 the tree for this purpose. During the fall it feeds on the 

 inner bark till cold weather approaches, when it becomes 

 quiet either where it fed or beneath a thin covering it pre- 

 pares on the outside of the bark near the ground. In the 

 spring feeding is resumed, and most of the borers become 

 full grown in June. They then leave the tree, and at its 

 base spin brown cocoons within which the borer changes to 

 the moth, this change requiring about three weeks. At the 

 end of this period the end of the cocoon is broken open and 

 the moth escapes, leaving its empty case behind. 



The work of the borer in the tree is very noticeable after 

 a little time, quantities of gum being poured out from the 

 wounds ; and the presence of this gum at the base of the 

 trunk or elsewhere is of itself sufficient to lead to the sus- 

 picion that borers are at work there. In such cases the gum 

 should be scraped away, all splits or openings in the bark 

 investigated with a knife, and any borers found in this way 

 should of course be destroyed. 



Various methods for protecting the trees from this pest 

 have been tested with varying but usually unsatisfactory' 

 results, and the best treatments now known are cutting out 

 the borers about the first of May, then mounding up the earth 



