PEACH PESTS 



1571 



West Indian or White Peach Scale 



Aulacaspis pentagona Targ. 

 General Appearance 



The scale of the adult female is cir- 

 cular with exuviae near one side, and 

 gray in color. The male scales are elon- 

 gate, white, and with distinct rib down 

 the middle. They are longer than the 

 diameter of the female scale. 



Life History 



The life history of this scale greatly re- 

 sembles that of the rose scale (Aulacaspis 

 rosa). There are three broods a year. 



Food Plants 



Peach, mulberry, plum, prune, apricot, 

 walnut, geranium, cherry, pear. 



Control 



Same as for San Jose scale. 



Natural Enemies 



The two-stabbed ladybird beetle feeds 

 upon this scale. 



E. O. EssiG 



The Western Prune and Peach Root 

 Borer 



Sanninoidea opalescens Hy. Edw. 



W. F. Wilson 



Reported only from some four or five 

 extreme Western states, we have another 

 insect which so closely resembles an East- 

 ern species as to be distinguishable only 

 by the absence of a distinct orange-col- 

 ored band across the abdomen. Perhaps 

 very few orchardists have ever seen the 

 adult of the borer, although every peach 

 and prune grower has no doubt had the 

 pleasure of digging out the larvae from 

 the roots of his trees. The habits of our 

 Western species vary only in a few im- 

 material differences from those of the 

 Eastern. The borers of both seem to at- 

 tack trees to a greater extent in light 

 sandy or gravelly soils. Peaches are most 

 susceptible to attack, although prunes and 

 apricots seem to be a close second. Al- 

 monds, cherries, apples and native plums 

 may be attacked. Myrobalan plum trees 

 are but very little bothered under normal 

 conditions and should be used as stocks 

 upon which to graft domestic plums. 



The adults or moths emerge in mid- 

 summer; at that time they are metallic- 



black in color, fore wings transparent 

 with black margins; hind wings trans- 

 parent with a black border. Under side 

 of wings same as upper. They may often 

 be seen resting on leaves or trunks of 

 trees. Soon after emergence the sexes 

 mate and as soon as copulation takes 

 place the female moths begin to lay their 

 eggs on the bark close to the crown of the 

 tree. Oviposition is finished in a few days 

 and then the moths die. The egg state 

 lasts about two weeks and the newly 

 hatched larvae start in at once to ideate 

 suitable places for entering the bark. 

 Within a couple of hours they are able 

 to disappear under the frass thrown out 



Pig. 1. Prune and Peach Root Borer ; 1, lar- 

 vae in burrows taken from peach tree ; 2, 

 cocoon pupal case and adult. 



(Original) 



in starting their burrows. The majority 

 of the larvae work below the surface of 

 the soil before entering the bark and will 

 always enter an old burrow if one is 

 handy. In rare instances larvae may be 

 found working in the trunk and larger 

 branches. Under the bark the larvae 

 work upward or downward and may 

 work up the trunk as far as twelve to 

 sixteen inches, eating away all of the 

 sapwood. One tree may have as many as 

 seventy borers working on it at one time. 

 Apparently the larvae feed at random, as 

 there is no regular shape to the burrow; 

 they may be long, wide, narrow, large or 



