22 BULLETIN 730, U. S. DEPARTMENT OP AGRICULTURE. 



ECONOMIC HISTORY. 



The grape root-borer is a native of the eastern part of the United 

 States, and doubtless bred originally in the several species of wild 

 grapes indigenous to that region. It was first described in 1854 by 

 Harris (1, 2), 1 who recorded injury by the species in North Caro- 

 lina. In 1867 Walsh (3) wrote of the species at some length and 

 reported injury in Kentucky, Missouri, North Carolina, and Ohio. 

 He quotes a correspondent who said he had noted injury by the 

 root-borer in Missouri for 20 years. Riley (4), in 1871, mentioned 

 the destructiveness of the species in Kentucky and recorded capturing 

 the moths in Missouri. In 1873 Glover (5) reported, on the authority 

 of a correspondent, that 5,000 vines, representing 107 varieties 

 imported from Paris and planted at Albemarle, N. C, were lost as a 

 result of attacks by this borer. Lugger (6) states that a single moth 

 of this species was seen flying about a wild grapevine in Minnesota 

 in 1898. Holland (7), in 1903, mentioned the range of the moth as 

 extending as far north as Vermont. Brooks (8), in 1907, wrote of 

 serious injury by the species in central West Virginia. 



GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION. 



The grape root-borer has been recorded as occurring in the States 

 of Kentucky, Minnesota, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, West 

 Virginia, and Vermont. It very probably will be found in other 

 States, where the inconspicuousness of the insect and its work have 

 resulted so far in its being overlooked. 



FOOD PLANTS. 



Grapevines, so far as known, are the only plants attacked by this 

 insect. Apparently all the common cultivated varieties of the 

 eastern part of the country suffer about equally in this respect. 

 Vines of the fox grape, Vitis lahrusca, growing in a vineyard, were 

 found to be attacked almost as extensively as Concord and other 

 cultivated sorts, although vines of the same species growing in woods 

 were not injured seriously. Vines of V. cordifolia and V. aestivalis 

 were not observed to be attacked. The Scuppernong, a variety of 

 the Southern fox grape, Vitis rotundifolia, is said by a correspondent 

 of Glover (5) to have withstood attacks. 



RECENT INJURIES. 



During the past 10 years the writer frequently has observed serious 

 injury by the grape root-borer in a few sections of West Virginia. 

 Vines have been seen in other localities which had every appearance 

 of being infested, but, since the borers can be found only by digging 



Numbers in parentheses' refer to "Literature cited," p. 28. 



