IQOS 



The Cornell Reading-Courses 



Fig. III. 



Fifth stage nymph of false apple 

 redbug 



with the fifth molt the wings are fully developed. The insects reach 

 maturity in about a month after hatching. 



vShortly after hatching the young 

 nymphs make their way to the 

 leaves from which they suck the 

 juices by means of the slender 

 bristles within their beaks. The 

 leaves become spotted with minute 

 reddish dots due to the small 

 feeding-punctures of the nymphs. 

 This condition is often the first 

 indication of the presence of red- 

 bugs, since the insects themselves 

 are very shy and extremely dif- 

 ficult to locate among the opening 

 buds in an orchard. The nymphs 

 may live on the foliage until full-grown, but usually they attack the 

 fruit as soon as it sets (Fig. 113). The injury to the foliage though often 

 conspicuous is of little importance, and it is to the fruit that the 

 greatest damage is done. When the fruit is very young the bristles of 

 the young bug's beak may penetrate to the center. The tissue about 

 this puncture becomes discolored (Fig. 114) and hardens so that a 

 corky thread extends to the core. Many of the injured apples fall to 

 the ground, others dry up on the 

 trees, while the remaining ones 

 mature but are knotty and un- 

 marketable. 



Apparently Rhode Island Green- 

 ing, Pumpkin Sweet (Pound Sweet), 

 Ben Davis, and Northern Spy, in 

 the order named, are the most 

 susceptible to injury, but other 

 varieties are also somewhat liable 

 to attack. Occasionally the entire 

 crop may be rendered worthless for 

 market, but ordinarily the extent 

 of the injury is much less. It 

 sometimes happens that about 

 twenty-five per cent of the crop 

 is rendered immarketable. Knotty 

 apples are also caused by curculio punctures and by aphis injury. Red- 

 bug injury may be distinguished from that of the plum curculio by 



Fig. 112. — Fifth stage nymph of apple 

 redbug 



