134 



Report of State Board of Horticulture. 



TABLE SHOWING DATES OF APPEARANCE OF MOTHS IN 1S98-99. 



*The moths recorded July 24-25 were captured in storerooms and may be extra late in- 

 dividuals of the first l^rood or early ones of the second — pi-obably the latter. 



NATURAL ENEMIES. 



As a moth, flying only at night; as a larvae, living in a citadel both 

 entrances to which are barricaded; or as larvae and pupae, hidden securely 

 away in the most secluded spots and rendered almost invisible by the pro- 

 tective coloring of its cocoons; it would seem that the codling moth should 

 be safe from all foes. Nevertheless the mortality is great in each of its 

 various stages. 



I have observed many shriveled eggs that did not hatch. The same 

 condition has been noted by others, notably Koebele,* Washburnt and 

 Simpson. $ "Washburn states that "the moth lays many eggs, but apparently 

 only a certain proportion of them develop." He thus conveys the impres- 

 sion that the mortality is due to lack of fertilization. Simpson attributes 

 it to climatic conditions. Both may be right. I have noticed that in 

 breeding cages protected from the sun nearly every egg hatches. In Cal- 

 ifornia and in the east, a minute parasitic insect lives in and destroys a 

 few of the eggs. It is probably present in Oregon, but I have as yet not 

 detected it. 



In Utah a wasp is reported to collect the larvae and store them in its 

 burrows, while the fruit in a neighboring orchard was almost free from 

 injury. In California, another wasp is said to pull the larvae from the 

 apples; while in Indiana the same good oifice is performed by the downy 

 woodpecker. It is not at all uncommon at Corvallis to find a considerable 

 percentage of the larvae dead in the fruit; some killed by a fungous dis- 

 ease; others evidently by a bacterium. 



After leaving the fruit, and while seeking a place in which to pupate 

 the larvae are subject to the attacks of numerous predaceous and parasitic 

 insects and many birds, which also continue to prey upon them both as 

 larvae and pupae after they are hidden away in their cocoons. 



* Bui. 22, Div. Ent. U. S. Dept. Agr. 



7 Bui. 25, Or. Expt. Sta. 



t Bui. 30, New SerieSi Div. Ent. U. S. Dept. Agr. 



