THE DEADLY BORER.

Auckland Star, Volume LIV, Issue 146, 21 June 1923, Page 14

THE DEADLY BORER.

ITS LIFE HISTORY. (15y Telegraph.—Special to ■'Star.') CHRISTCHURCH, this day. In Tuesday's "Press"' some remarks of Mr. Poynton, S.M. of Auckland, concerning the borer were published. To-day some further interesting facts concerning liorer were given to a representative of tlie "Press" by Mr. A. E. Blade, of Auckland. Mr. Blade, who has had much practical experience in coping with the problem of the borer, stated that the fly usually mates after leaving a hole in the affected wood. She remains fertile as long as she lives, aod deposits her eggs in various places. She is often very sluggish in her movements, and may never mate. The eggs are of torpedo shape, and thin salve protects them until the little grub hatches. The grub when hatched, immediately enters the wood. It bores on, and takes starch out of the wood as its food. This process continues till the grub is fully developed and ready to turn into a beetle. It then comes back near the surface of the wood, where it gets air more readily. When it turns into a beetle it breaks the surface and crawls out. The dust which comes from the holes has passed through the body of the borer, from which no timber is immune. It has attacked even hard wood used for making bowls, and has perforated lead guttering. There is no successful way of dealing with its ravages beyond, perhaps, the use of a deadly searching gas, which would hardly prove a commercial proposition.