INJURIOUS INSECTS. 359 



distributed through the United States, as the weak and dying 

 currant bushes with their hollow stems clearly prove. As will 

 be noticed, this beautiful wasp-like moth belongs to the same 

 family and genus as the peach borer. The moths af this family 

 may be readily told by their trim form, quick movements, diurnal 

 habits, flying in the hot sunshine, and especially by the brush- 

 like character of the tip of the body. This last character will 

 serve to distinguish them from the wasps, an important fact, 

 as even entomologists of considerable experience are liable to be 

 deceived, so striking is the resemblance. The larvae of the 

 family, so far as I know, are without exception borers. They 

 are white with a brownish head, and generally pupate in a co- 

 coon made of their own chips or dust. 



DESCRIPTION AND NATURAL HISTORY. The moth is a little less 

 than one-half inch long, and expands three-fourths of an inch. 

 The color is deep blue, with three yellow bands across the ab- 

 domen, a yellow collar, and yellow mixed with blue marking the 

 legs. These yellow bands, so like the same in many of our 

 wasps, render this species all the more liable to be mistaken, 

 especially as they mingle with the wasps, making a gay company 

 in the bright sunshine. Yet the tufted extremity, in lieu of a 

 pointed one tipped with a dreaded spear, will quickly un- 

 deceive us. 



These moths appear in June and July. They deposit their 

 eggs near a bud, at which work they seem very busily engaged 

 during the heat of the day. These eggs soon hatch, and the 

 tiny caterpillar at once bores to the center of the stem. These 

 larvae may be found in the stem from June to July the fol- 

 lowing year. I have taken the moth from the bushes with 

 my net, and the nearly full-grown larvae from the hollow stem 

 the same day, June 22d. 



A curious example of wise foresight is afforded by these 

 larvae in their eating through the hard wood and bark before 

 assuming the pupa state, as without such forecast and action 

 the hollow stem would be a fatal dungeon to the moth, whose 

 slender sucking tube and wanting jaws would render their escape 

 hopeless. 



