ORCHARD INSECTS 299 



marked with three or four narrow yellow stripes. They 

 emerge during the late summer, and the females lay their 

 eggs on the bark near the base of the trees, a single 

 one laying from 200 to 800. The larvae hatch in ten days 

 and enter the soft bark in which they feed until winter. They 

 resume feeding in the spring and masses of gum exude from 

 their burrows. The full-grown borer is light yellowish, 

 about one inch long, with a brown head and legs, and five 

 pairs of pro-legs on the abdomen. The mature larva con- 

 structs a cocoon near the surface of the soil, usually on the 

 trunk near the burrow, 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. 



One of the best means of control is to mound the soil 

 around the trunks of the trees in late summer, thus forcing 

 the moths to deposit their eggs well up on the trunk. In 

 the early fall level down the earth to facilitate finding the 

 larvae. This makes it much easier to find the young larvae 

 and the trees are not so badly infested when thus treated. 

 Various washes and wrappers have been recommended for 

 the peach borer, but it is yet to be demonstrated that any 

 are generally successful. After reducing the number by 

 mounding, the grower must dig the borers out by hand in 

 the fall and again in late spring, using a sharp knife and 

 strong wire, or a blacksmith's hoof-knife. 



158. The Plum Curculio.* One of the most common 

 pests of the stone and pome fruits east of the Rocky Moun- 

 tains, is the Plum Curculio (1), whose larva is the common 

 whitish worm found in peaches, plums and cherries. The 

 larva is a footless grub (this distinguishes it from the cod- 



* Conotrachelus nenuphar Herbst. Family Curculionidce, see page 

 125. 



