THE PEACH-TREE BORER. 331 



. During the month of August, the squash and other 

 cucurbitaceous vines are frequently found to die suddenly 

 down to the root. The cause of this premature death is 

 a little borer (Fig. 159, larva), which be- Vig . m . 



gins its operations near the ground, per- 

 forates the stem, and devours the interior. 

 It afterwards enters the soil, forms a cocoon (Fig. 160, 

 cocoon containing chrysalis) of a gummy 

 substance covered with particles of earth, 



changes to a chrysalis, and comes forth 

 the next summer a winged insect. This 

 is conspicuous for its orange-colored body, spotted with 

 black, and its hind legs fringed with long orange-colored 

 and black hairs. The hind wings only are transparent, and 

 the fore wings expand from one inch to one inch and a half. 

 It deposits its eggs on the vines close to the roots, and may 

 be seen flying about the plants from the 10th of July till 

 the middle of August. This insect, which may be called 

 the squash-vine iEgeria, was first described by me in the 

 year 1828, under the name of jSSgeria 16 Cucurbitce (Plate 

 V. Fig. 8), the trivial name indicating the tribe of plants 

 on which the caterpillar feeds.* 



The pernicious borer (Fig. 161, larva) 

 which, during many years past, has proved 

 very destructive to peach-trees throughout 

 the United States, is a species of JEgeria, 

 named exitiosa (Plate V. Fig. 6, male), or 

 the destructive, by Mr. Say, who first scientifically described 

 it in the third volume of the " Journal of the Academy of 

 Natural Sciences of Philadelphia," and subsequently gave 

 a representation and account of it in his "American En- 



[ 16 The genus JEgeria Fab. is now rejected by the best authorities, and all 

 the species are put under Trochiliwm Scopoli, which has the priority by thirty 

 years. — Mobkis.] 



* See New England Farmer, Vol. VHI. p. 33 ; my Discourse before the 

 Massachusetts Horticultural Society, in 1832, p. 26; and Silliman's Journal, 

 Vol. XXXVI. p. 310. 



