Thk Codling-Moth. 



IO( 



it throws its excrement; it apparently keeps the hole closed with a net 

 work of silken threads in which are mingled particles of apple bitten 

 off by the worm and with grains of excrement. An exit hole thus 

 stopped up is shown, enlarged, at a in figure 134. This "worm- 

 hole " often remains in this condition for several days, the caterpillar 

 evidently feeding inside and making further preparations to leave the 

 fruit forever. 



The codling-moth usually spends from twenty to thirty days of its 

 life as a caterpillar feeding inside the fruit. 



A7'e two or more fruits ever attacked by the same worm ? — Roesel 

 believed that the worms often went from one apple to another, even 

 though the apple fell to the ground and the worm had to climb the 

 tree again. Later observers 

 have only seen indications of 

 where a worm has left one 

 fruit and entered another touch- 

 ing it while the fruits were 

 still on the tree. There is no 

 authentic evidence to show 

 that more than two apples are 

 ever entered by the same worm. 

 Usually the apple- worm gets 

 its growth in the same fruit 

 where it got its first meal. 



The /lumber of zvorms in a 

 sifigle fruit. — Usually but one apple-worm occurs in a fruit, but 

 several instances are recorded where two, three, or even four worms 

 have been found in one fruit. Out of 201 apples examined by Atkins, 

 in Maine, in i 882, nine had been penetrated by three worms each, and 

 47 by two worms each ; in no case did a worm gnaw through into 

 the burrow of another. When two or more worms are found in the 

 same fruit, they are usually quite different in size, and may belong to 

 different broods. 



Effect of their work on the fruit. — Usually fruit in which the apple- 

 worm is at work shows signs of a premature ripening. This is espe- 

 cially true of early varieties, and ''windfalls" are often the final 

 result. In the case of late varieties, however, the infested fruit often 

 remains on the tree and ripens naturally with the others, the worms 



h 



134. — The "icorm-ho/e^^ or exit hole of the 

 apple • worm ; ejilarged. a, before the 

 u>o)tn has left the T'uit, and h, after it 

 has emerged and pushed aioay the plug. 



