THE BORER.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 2598, 26 June 1923, Page 3

THE BORER.

Tile borer does not destroy merely for destruction’s sake, but rather to satisfy its natural craving for food. This fact- may be some comfort to those who have suffered from the ravages of a creature which is probably costing the country many thousands of pounds annually. Some interesting facts concerning the borer were given to a representative of the Christchurch “Press” by Mr A. E. Blade, of Auckland. Mr Blade, who has had much practical experience in coping with Ihe problem of the bore?-, stated that the fly usually mates after leaving the hole in the affected wood. She remains fertile as long as she lives, and deposits her eggs in various places. She is often very sluggish in her movements, and may never mate. The eggs are of a torpedo shape, and a thin salve proleeis them until the little grub hatches. The grub, when hatched, immediately enters the wood. It bores on and takes the starch out of the wood us its food. This process continues till the grub is fully developed aijd ready to turn into the beetle. It then comes back near the surface of the wood, where in gets the air more readily. When it turns into the beetle it breaks the surface and crawls but. The dust which comes out from the holes has passed through the body of the bor-, er from whom no timber is immune. It has attacked even the hard wood used for leaking bowls, and has perforated lead gutteriug. 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.