372 On the occurrence of certain Insects, by James Hardy. 



and July. Larva undescribed. Feeds on the stems and branch.e3 

 of Apple trees. Bristol, Epping, Kingsbury, Lewes." 



It is to be hoped that the mystery will be removed from this 

 calamity, now that an active participant in it, has been discovered. 

 Analogous to it is a similar insidious disease occasioned by the 

 white larva of another Olearwing, T. Tipuliforme, which perforates 

 the pith of the currant bushes, (Stainton's Manual, i. pp. 105-6.) 

 Mr. Curtis described it as a Sphinx in one of his articles in the 

 "Gardeners' Chronicle," 1841, p. 779. Mr. Wailes says that T. Ti- 

 puliforme occurs at Newcastle, and is common in one garden at Dar- 

 lington. It " appears generally to affect old gardens, where the 

 red currant bushes (on the medulla of which the larva feeds, pas- 

 sing, according to Dr. Staudinger, one winter in that state) are 

 gnarled, and have been long in cultivation." (Catalogue of the 

 Lepidoptera of Northumberland and Durham, p. 46.) On the 

 authority of Mr. Alfred "Wallace, this pest has been introduced 

 into New Zealand along with the currants ; and doubtless this 

 has been the way in which this species which affects the Apricot, 

 has been disseminated in Scotland. It adds to the probability 

 that Mr. Crossling is right, that considerable mischief of a sim- 

 ilar character is done by insects of this genus in the United States 

 of America. In April, 1873, the State Entomologist reports that 

 in Braxton County, West Virginia, the borer, ^geria {TrochiUum) 

 exitiosa, killed some peach trees. (Monthly Eeport of the Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture, 1873, p. 239.) In 1872, a correspondent, 

 when examining his peach-trees for the peach-borer, discovered 

 a great quantity of small whitish worms, about the 0.40 of an 

 inch in length, and of a very slender form, swarming in the exu- 

 ded gum, saw-dust, and feces with which the mouths of the 

 burrows made by the peach-borer were filled. These, however, 

 when hatched, were recognized as belonging to Mycetolia {Mycet- 

 ophila) PersiccB, a kind of gnat, which had nothing to do with the 

 larvae of the peach-tree borers, except to feed upon the exuded 

 gum, &c. These even, when young, " can be readily distinguish- 

 ed by their heads, their more robust forms, and by their six small 

 feet on the first three segments of the body." (Eeport of the U. 

 S. Commissioner of Agriculture, for 1872, pp. 114-115.) In the 

 Eeport for 1871, a Mr Batcham as a remedy for the " peach-borer" 

 recommends the following recipe : 



" I take a five-pound can of carbolic soap, called * carbolic plant-protector,' 

 posting two dollars, dissolve it in 10 or 12 gallons of hot water by stirring or 



