The Bud Moth. 31 



well known Codlin moth, Garpocapsa pomonella; and the adult insect 

 does resemble the Codlin moth in size and form, but it differs from it 

 in structure, in coloring, and in its habits and life history. 



Its generic name Tmetocera (meaning cut-horned in the original 

 Greek) was established in 1859 for the reception of this insect which 

 still remains the only representative of the genus thus far . known ; the 

 notched appearance of the base of the antenna* of the male moth 

 (Fig. 3c) suggested the name, and seems to be the principal generic 

 character. ' The specific name ocellana (from the Latin for eye-like) 

 was given to the insect in Austria in 1776, more than a century ago; 

 a spot somewhat eye-like in appearance on each front wing of the 

 moth suggested the name. The Eye-Spotted Bud moth is a common 

 name given to the pest by some entomologists. The moth has been 

 described under five different names, and the species has been placed in 

 six different genera. All of the names are now brought into the 

 synonomy of Tmetocera ocellana. 



Indications of its Pkesbnce. 



The pest makes its presence known early in the spring as soon as 

 the buds begin to open, usually about May first on early varieties and 

 a week or ten days later on late varieties. Our correspondents reported 

 that in 1891, Greenings, Baldwins and Kings suffered the most. The 

 caterpillars work in opening fruit and leaf buds, often eating into the 

 buds, especially the terminal ones, so that new growth is stopped. Such 

 work in but a few buds on a nursery tree especially, soon checks and 

 disfigures its symmetry of growth and often spoils the tree for market- 

 ing. This fact makes this insect one of the worst pests to be dreaded 

 by nurserymen. On larger trees, unless the pest is very numerous, this 

 disfiguremeut of the natural growth is not so noticeable. 



More often the pest does not begin its work until the buds are 

 nearly half opened. In this case the caterpillars feed upon the central 

 portions of the buds, if a fruit bud, upon the unopened flowers. The 

 central leaves and flowers are tied together with silken threads, and 

 when the pest needs more food it draws in and fastens an outer leaf or 

 flower. In a short time some of the partly eaten leaves in this nest 

 turn brown and become detached from the branch, thus rendering the 

 work of the pest quite conspicuous. So many of the leaf and flower 

 clusters were thus webbed together, and so many of the leaves had 

 turned brown in one instance, that a correspondent wrote May 25, 

 1891, that some of his trees looked as though a fire had been through 



*The joints are not much notched, but a notched appearance is caused by the scanty clothhig 

 of the fifth joint, the peculiar arrangement of the scales on the third and fourth, and the spurs 

 on the sixth and seventh joints. 



