648 INSECT PESTS OF FARM, GARDEN AND ORCHARD 



u period of two to three months, it seems probable Unit some 

 of the larva) which hutch from eggs in late summer or early fall, 

 do not become moths until the second subsequent season, so 

 that they live in parts of three years, though the life cycle may 

 occupy two years. The full-grown borer i.i a light yellowish 

 larva about 1 inch long, with a brown head and thoracic legs, 

 and five pairs of prolegs on the abdomen. The body is 

 sparsely clothed with brownish hairs which arise from small, 

 smooth tubercles. The grown larva constructs a cocoon at or 

 near the surface of the ground, usually on the trunk near the 



FIG. 500. The peach borer larva, natural size and enlarged. (After 



Slingerland.) 



burrow, but often on the soil, which is composed of particles 

 of excrement and bark, bound together with gum and a thin 

 lining of silk. In this it transforms to a brown pupa from which 

 the moth emerges in about three weeks. 



Control. One of the best means of preventing injury and 

 making the removal of the borers easier is to mound the soil 

 around the trunk as high as possible, just before the moths emerge 

 in the summer. This forces them to lay their eggs high up on the 

 trunk, where the little borers may later be readily found. In some 

 way this mounding seems to prevent the establishment of the 

 young larva?, as several experimenters have found that from half 



