THE CODLING MOTH. 159 



rels. The little silken cocoon will give quick indication of their presence or 

 "whereaUents. Yet these insects are no exception to the rule of insect secre- 

 tiveness, and we can not hope to destroy even a moiety of these cellar residents. 

 Why could we not arrange to have our apple-cellars moth-tight, and then by 

 the first of May shut them up, and thus effectually cage these miserable mis- 

 chief-makers ? 



DR. LE baron's theory AGAIX. 



We have seen that the first brood of moths are around as late as the last of 

 June, while their pupa3 all disappear the last of August. Xow remembering 

 that the eggs exist one week before hatching, the larvas four weeks eating, the 

 pupae two weeks quiescent, where, then, is the time for the moths, that those 

 smaller ova may develop ? Yet, supposing that the second brood of moths 

 have those smaller ova, which have to develop for some days, mayhaps weeks, 

 within the ovaries, and that the moths are sufficiently long lived for this, and 

 we may have the solution of the enigma which inhabited apples, even in De- 

 cember, present. 



NATURAL ENEMIES. 



Among the most imjiortant of these are the birds, especially the robin, blue- 

 bird, and sap-sucker. Could I put before you an exact showing of the enor- 

 mous benefits from these feathered friends, I am sure you would be filled with 

 astonishment, admiration, and gratitude. This is why some of our fruit men 

 have erroneously supposed that a single "worm" run riot, and instead of play- 

 ing havoc with a single apple or pear, destroyed dozens. Why, say they, the 

 "worms" are but a small fraction in numbers to the injured fruit. Yet they 

 never saw a full grown larva in an apple without seeing at the same time a 

 large excavation, showing that the devastator is no new comer. Could they 

 have seen the thousands, aye, millions of larva which have been picked up by 

 their bird friends, a friendship too often one-sided, they would reason better. 

 Especially serviceable in this good work is the sap-sucker. Prof. Beal objects to 

 the paper bands, because they become so riddled with holes by these vigilant 

 benefactors in quest of these destructive larvae and pupa?. Nor do they tire 

 with the coming of those " melancholy days, the saddest in the year," for all 

 the long winter through they are still engaged in the same worthy labor. 

 How mean, then, to denounce them because they occasionally seek to gratify 

 their architectural taste by huney-combing some evergreen or fruit tree, that 

 they may rinse down their larval tidbits by lapping the oozing sap, even if 

 they do semi-occasionally, nay, quadri-occasionally, destroy a tree. Oh, that all 

 of us were as sure, when the books are opened, of as bright a record of noble 

 philanthropic work as these birds! 



Last July I received a letter from Hon. Henry Chamberlain of Three Oaks, 

 Berrien county, in which he stated that Mr. E. B. Goit had discovered a worm 

 which preyed upon both the larva3 and pupa3 of the codling moth. 



I afterward corresponded with Mr. Goit in regard to this " worm," receiving 

 from him specimens of the same, with a more full account of their good work. 

 These " worms" are more properly grubs, or the larvae of beetles. I did not 

 succeed in rearing any of them, but sent one to Prof. C. V. Riley, who pro- 

 nounced it the grub of a beetle of the family Cleridm, a family which contains 

 the grub or larvae which, in Europe, destroys the young bees. Another of 

 this family also destroys hams, often doing ruinous work. 



I think Prof. Riley is wrong, and that this larvae rather belongs to the family 



