The Codling-Moth. 121 



Unlike many other moths, the codling moth is not attracted to 

 lights. This has been demonstrated several times by careful experi- 

 ments with trap-lanterns in orchards. 



The moth has a slender, pointed tongue, with which it sometimes 

 sips or sucks up sweet substances. LeBaron saw the moths feed freely 

 upon lumps of moist sugar and slices of sweet apple which he placed 

 in tlieir cage. McMillan records that they willingly feed upon 

 sweetened water, and that he has " seen those of the second brood 

 feeding upon the yellow flowers of an autumnal composite {Grindelia 

 sqnarrosa) in the dusk of evening" in Nebraska. The weight 

 of evidence from careful experiments indicate that the moths are 

 not easily attracted to alluring baits of any kind.* 



How long a codling-moth lives is not definitely known. In con- 

 finement, most observers record that they all die in about a week. 

 Washburn concluded from his observations that the life of the moths 

 was from ten to fifteen days. One moth lived for sev^enteen days in 

 one of our cages. 



Brief Resume of the Life-history. 



The codling-moth appears in the spring about the time the blos- 

 soms are falling from apple trees, and after a few days glues its tiny 

 scale-like eggs (see figure 131) onto the skin of the young fruit or even 

 the adjacent leaves, where they hatch in about a week. The little 

 apple-worm usually finds its way into the blossom-end, where it takes 

 its first meal, and where it remains feeding for several days, finally 

 eating its way to the core. In about three weeks it gets nearly full- 

 grown and makes an exit-tunnel to the surface, closing the outside 

 opening of the tunnel for a few days while it feeds inside. Emerging 

 from the fruit, 11 usually makes its way to the trunk of the tree, where 



* A Connecticut correspondent states in the Rural New Yorker for Janu- 

 ary 9, 1897, that " happening to pass a sweet-bough apple-tree one evening 

 in August, where a number of apples, half eaten by the chickens, were 

 lying scattered about, I noticed a kitten busily trying to catch some small 

 object. On investigation, I discovered that the half-eaten apples were cov- 

 ered with codling-moths. There were thousands of them, apparently feed- 

 ing on the fruit. They were very active when disturbed. I procured a lot 

 of old newspapers, and for half an hour or more I kept several fires burning 

 brightly, while the kitten and I stirred them up. I don't think I succeeded 

 in burning as many as the kitten caught. They carefully avoided the fires." 



