The Codling- Moth. 93 



apples or pears. Just when the insect arrived in America will doubt- 

 less never be known. It may not have been until about the middle of 

 the last century, for we find no references to " wormy apples" until 

 after the plum curculio began to be discussed in the literature. For 

 many years the cause of wormy apples in America was thought to be 

 the plum curculio. Apparently it was not until 181 9 that this mistake 

 was discovered by breeding a moth from the supposed grubs of the 

 curculio. At that time wormy apples and pears were common near 

 Boston. By 1840, the insect had become a serious pest in the New 

 England States and was common in central New York. A few hints 

 here and there in the literature give us some idea of its westward 

 progress. It is said to have been unknown in Illinois in 1849, and to 

 have not invaded Iowa until about i860. During the next decade its 

 westward progress must have been rapid, for it reached Utah soon 

 after 1870 and appeared in California in the spring of 1874. 



The insect is now recognized as a pest in nearly every section of the 

 United vStates where there are bearing apple-orchards. 



How it is spread.— hji the worm often goes into the barrel or 

 other packing-case with the fruit when it is picked, and as it finds 

 therein a suitable place to spin and undergo its further transforma- 

 tions, it is thus often transported for longer or shorter distances. This 

 is doubtless the principal method by which the insect has been distrib- 

 uted, whether from one state to another or from one continent to 

 another. When these receptacles are emptied of their fruit at its 

 destination they are often thrown one side without a thought that 

 adhering to the sides and tucked away in the cracks there may be a 

 dozen, or even a hundred, of the little worms in their snug cocoons, 

 only awaiting the proper season to develop into the parent insects, 

 which usually have little trouble in finding a suitable place in which to 

 start their progeny. 



Estimated Losses from its Ravages. 



Evidently this insect has been noticeably destructive in orchards, 

 that is, it has ranked as an insect pest since the earliest times ; for 

 Phny wrote in the first century of the Christian era that apples and 

 pears " are very much worm-eaten in some years." Judging from recent 

 reports, the percentage of wormy fruits is at the present time nearly 



