46 
JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGY 
[Vol. 11 
President R. A. Cooley: Do you wish to offer discussion on Mr. 
Webster’s paper? If not, we will pass to a paper by Mr. Peterson, 
“Some Experiments on the Adult and Eggs of the Peach Borer.” 
SOME EXPERIMENTS ON THE ADULTS AND EGGS OF THE 
PEACH TREE BORER, SANNXNOIDEA EXITIOSA 
SAY, AND OTHER NOTES 
By Alvah Peterson, Ph.D., Assistant Entomologist, New Jersey Agricultural 
Experiment Station 
During the summer of 1917 a study was made of the peach tree 
borer at Mr. James M. Moon and Son’s peach orchard near Clemen- 
ton, N. J. This orchard has about eighty acres of seven- to eight- 
year-old peach trees of different varieties and for several years has been 
heavily infested with borers. The larger part of the orchard is on a 
light white sand soil and the smaller portion on a heavier gravel sand 
soil. 
The majority of experiments were conducted under two large wire- 
screen cages located in the white sand portion of the orchard where 
the infestation was most severe. One all wire screen cage (12' x 12' 
x 9') was constructed about a peach tree while a second wire-screen cage 
(8' x 8' x 6') with a wooden roof covered with rubberoid was placed in 
an open space besides the large cage. These cages were built and put 
into position by Air. J. B. Aloon and Mr. Robert Schellenger and we 
are greatly indebted to them for their cooperation and the interest 
shown in this investigation. I am also indebted to Dr. T. J. Headlee 
for many valuable suggestions and the sincere interest shown. 
The problem of the peach borer was approached from several as¬ 
pects, but the principal lines of investigation were the food and feeding 
habits of the adults, the response of the female when ovipositing to 
various materials commonly used in spraying and other chemicals, 
the susceptibility of the eggs to certain contact insecticides and other 
compounds, and the effectiveness of certain mechanical protectors 
(Scott’s tree protectors) and various chemicals (principally spray mix¬ 
tures) in keeping the larvae out of the tree. The last mentioned phase 
of the peach borer problem cannot be reported on at this time for it 
will be necessary to wait until the spring boring (1918) has been com¬ 
pleted in order to obtain the desired data. 
During the past season the adults emerged in the greatest number 
about the middle of August; a few were seen throughout the month of 
July and the last to emerge came out about September 15. Emer¬ 
gence occurred during the early hours of the morning (never after 
