February, ’18] 
PETERSON: PEACH TREE BORER 
47 
9 a. m.) and copulation took place within one to twenty-four hours 
after coming out. No difficulty was experienced in getting captive 
males and females to copulate in captivity. This took place in the 
morning hours and usually ran from forty-five minutes to one and one- 
half hours. When through copulating, the female would start to 
deposit eggs in five to thirty minutes and continue this performance in 
the day time (9 a. m. to 4 p. m.) for forty-eight hours or even longer 
in some cases. The number of eggs deposited and possessed by dif¬ 
ferent females varied considerably as seen in Table I. 
Table I —Number op Eggs Deposited and those in Abdomen of Ten Females Used in Experiments 
9 
Deposited 
Abdomen 
Total 
9 
Deposited 
Abdomen 
Total 
(1) 
452,-74% 
154,-26% 
606 
(6) 
323,-75% 
104,-25% 
427 
(2) 
75,-39% 
117,-61% 
192 
(7) 
305,-66% 
154,-34% 
459 
(3) 
313,-70% 
132,-30% 
445 
(8) 
218,-34% 
420,-66% 
638 
(4) 
511,-73% 
187,-27% 
698 
(9) 
234,-63% 
133,-37% 
367 
(5) 
372,-69% 
165,-31% 
537 
(10) 
342,-69% 
153,-31% 
495 
Average deposited was 314 or 64%, average remaining in abdomen was 170 or 36%, and average total was 484 
Smallest number deposited was 75 and largest 511. Smallest female possessed 192 eggs and largest 698. 
Many new and interesting facts have been observed in respect to the 
behavior of the adults but these will be omitted in this paper. 
Food and Feeding Habits 
In respect to the food and feeding habits of the adult stage, it can be 
said that in all experiments and observations made under cages or 
throughout the orchard and in nearby woods no adult was ever seen to 
partake of or show any desire for food or liquid during its entire adult 
existence. Males and females would emerge from pupae, copulate and 
then the female would proceed to deposit at least two-thirds the total 
number of eggs within her body and in the meantime show no desire 
for food. Anatomically the mouth-parts of the adult and their con¬ 
nection with the oesophagus seems to be normal and compares favor¬ 
ably with similar structures in adults of other species of the Lepidop- 
tera that are known to feed. 
The following chemicals were used in liquid form at varying dilutions 
in a number of experiments to tempt the adults to feed: corn syrup 
(“Karo,” diluted one-half), cane sugar, honey, maltose, lactose, fruc¬ 
tose, dextrine, acetic acid, ammonium hydroxide, pyridine, alcohol, 
formic acid, clove oil and distilled water. Fresh and decayed peaches 
and fresh peach gum were also used, but without success. 
From the above results one can readily see the improbability of 
developing an attractive poison bait for the adult. 
