78 
twig, the injured part dries up and breaks off. This insect was 
also seen, though in much smaller number, last season, in Maryland 
and Virginia, and apple trees are also frequently observed injured in 
a similar manner in Maryland, and it is probable that the damage 
is done by the same worm, but as we have not yet succeeded in 
breeding them from the apple, we cannot say with certainty. 
The larvae are about 0.25 of an inch in length, head black, body 
dark reddish-brown, with lighter rings, the third ring being more 
conspicuous and whitish; the moth is quite small, and measures 
0.40 to 0.60 of an inch in expanse of wings, and is a pale gray 
color, with a few blackish spots on the upper wings. Should this 
insect increase in numbers as much during the next year as it has 
done since the last, it threatens to be a great scourge to peach 
growers. The only way to destroy them is to go around the peach 
orchard in May and June and cut off such terminal shoots as appear 
to be withering or drying up, and then burn them with the cater¬ 
pillar inside. This, at least, would prevent their multiplying to such 
an extent as to be very injurious at present. When not so very 
numerous, they appear only to serve to somewhat prune the trees, 
as they take off merely the tips of the branches.” 
Prof. J. H. Comstock, formerly Entomologist to the United States 
Department of Agriculture, adds an item to the account of its in¬ 
juries and also contributes to its life history, in his report for 1879, 
published in the report of the Commissioner of Agriculture for that 
year. He says of it: 
“This insect has long been known as a serious pest in peach or¬ 
chards, destroying the terminal twigs of the trees. The young cater¬ 
pillar begins its work in the spring, at the time, or soon after, the 
shoots begin to grow. These, when from one-half inch to one inch 
in length, are punctured at the base, and are eaten off completely. 
The leaves of the bud unfold and then wither. The twig, although 
severed, does not drop off, but is held in place by the gummy sub¬ 
stance which exudes from the wound. Occasionally, all the twigs 
on a tree are thus destroyed. This insect has also been found, by 
Mr. Wm. Saunders, boring into the crown and roots of strawberries 
in Ontario. And during the past summer I found the peculiar red¬ 
dish larvae in peaches which were grown on Blackstone Island, Vir¬ 
ginia. A search revealed them also in peaches on the department 
grounds. The larva leaves the peach before transforming, and sus¬ 
pends itself to the outside of the fruit, spinning no cocoon at all. 
The twig-inhabiting individuals mature in this latitude during May 
and June. The fruit-inhabiting larvae are found during the latter 
part of July and in August, and mature during September. It thus 
appears that the species is two-brooded, the early brood feeding in 
the terminal twigs and buds, while the later brood inhabits the fruit. 
As a remedy, the trees should be examined early in May, and all 
dying twigs pruned and burned, thus destroying the larvae. An in¬ 
teresting chalcid parasite has been bred from this insect, which we 
have not had time to describe and name for this report.” 
Mr. J. Pettit, of Grimsby, Ontario ; has bred it from the twigs of 
the peach, and it breeds from peach twigs also in Europe; and Mr. 
Glover has found it feeding on the buds of the peach. 
