54 



CIRCULAR 2 7 0, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



more than an inch. The wings of the male moth are clear, except for 

 the margins, but the fore wings of the female are opaque. The female 

 of the eastern form has an orange band about the abdomen, while 

 in that of the western variety the whole abdomen is steely blue. The 

 male moth of the eastern form has several narrow yellow bands on 

 the abdomen and yellow markings on the wings; these do not appear 



on males of the west- 

 ern variety. Other- 

 wise the two forms 

 are very similar in 

 appearance and their 

 habits are the same. 

 The moths appear 

 in the orchards in 

 July and August, fly- 

 ing about very ac- 

 tively during the 

 warm part of the day. 

 Each female lays sev- 

 eral hundred oval, 

 cinnamon-brown 

 eggs, singly or in 

 groups on the tree 

 trunks. The eggs 

 hatch in about 10 

 days, and the young 

 borers crawl down 

 the trunks and enter 

 the damp bark just 

 beneath the surface 

 of the soil. They at 

 once begin feeding on 

 the imier bark and 

 continue doing so un- 

 til late in the fall, re- 

 maining quietly in 

 the burrows during 

 the winter. In the 

 spring feeding is re- 

 sumed, and the borers become full grown in May and June, when 

 they are about 1 inch long, yellowish white or cream-colored, with 

 brown heads. They construct cocoons of silk and frass at the surface 

 of the soil, either in the tunnel or close to the trunk, within which they 

 change to pupae and several weeks later to moths. There is only one 

 generation annually. 



CONTROL 



The peach borer was formerly combated by "worming" the trees. 

 The soil was removed from about the trunk, the tunnels of the borers 

 were located by means of the exuding gum, and the borers were cut 

 out and destroyed. This had to be done early in the spring or late in 

 the fall to be effective, and was a rather slow, tedious method, accom- 

 panied by some injury to the trees in addition to that occasioned by 

 the borers. A cheaper, easier, and more effective control measure is 



Figure 61. — Base of young peach tree severely injured 

 by the peach borer. About X %. 



