THE CHEER Y-BORER. i 113 



CHAPTER XVIII. 



THE CHERRY-BORER. 



(Maroga gigantella.) 



Order: Lepidoptera Heterocera. Family: Gclichidce ? 



This pest of the cherry and peach grower is a Moth, 

 the larvse of which are terribly destructive to cherry and 

 peach trees and sometimes to plums. 



The larva is a pinkish- white grub (see Plate XIII., Fig, 

 3), hairy, and when full-grown, about two inches in length. 



The perfect insect (see Plate XIII., Fig. 5) is white, 

 shining ; head in front and antennae black ; fore-wings, in 

 some instances, more or less greyish, the whole wings 

 having a somewhat silky appearance, with a black spot on 

 each ; hind- wings darker, fringe white ; length of the body, 

 10-12 lines; spread of wings, 20 to 30 lines. This insect 

 (it is supposed ) also attacks elm trees by boring into the 

 thick branches, and is one of the worst of the wattle- 

 borers, and has left its native food for the less bitter wood 

 of the cherry and peach. 



Until quite recently, many persons have had their 

 doubts as to the proper identity of this Moth, as the 

 rearing of the grubs from the wood is, in some cases, a 

 difficult matter; in others again, as several moths and 

 beetles, nothing is easier, and I must confess a doubt as 

 to whether I had got hold of the real culprit. 



I am indebted to my friend, Mr. Henry Edwards, the 

 well-known entomologist, now of America, who collected 

 around Melbourne in the early days of the colony, for the 

 proper identification of this insect, as he (Mr. Edwards) 

 informs me that 30 years ago or more the same insect 

 destroyed nearly the whole of the cherry trees in the old 

 garden of the late Hon. H. Miller, who then lived at 

 Richmond, and Mr. Edwards at once recognised both the 

 larvae and the perfect insect, he having reared it from the 

 cherry-wood. The larvae of this Moth have also been 



