CRANBERRIES - INSECT PESTS. 163 



hacl not been found in New England. The other two, though 

 quite fully described, are accompanied by no explanatory 

 notes, and as there is nothing with which to make the com- 

 parison we cannot tell if either of them correspond to the 

 fruit worm of the twelfth report, or the berry worm of the 

 eleventh report. 



Now the Report of the United States Department of Agri- 

 culture for 18G9, tells us that this same third species of 

 Packard, reports from Cape Cod, Mass. ; but neither does 

 this correspond to any Avorm that has been hitherto described 

 that we can tell. Prof. Packard in his " Guide " tells us that 

 the larva of this third species is known as the " fire worm," 

 destroying the vines and tender shoots as if they had been 

 burnt over with fire. Now the larvae of this worm are so 

 much larger that they cannot be the same mentioned in the 

 third report, by the name of "vine worm" and "fire 

 blight," unless, perhaps, the latter were taken when very 

 small, being mentioned there as " ^-inch " long only. 



Are there, then, five or six species of these Tortrix moths 

 that feed upon the vines and berries of the cranberry ? We 

 believe that there are, or at least maybe. An example of 

 this kind occurred in the family Agrotis, or cutworm, as a 

 simple passage from Harris's Report of the Insects of Massa- 

 chusetts, 1841, p. 322, will show: — 



" vSeveral years ago I procured a number of cutworms in the 

 months of June and Jul}'. Though varying in length from one 

 inch and a quarter to two inches, they were fully grown, and 

 buried themselves immediately in the earth with which the}' were 

 supplied. The}' w^ere all thick, greasy-looking caterpillars, of a 

 dark ashen gray color ; but I neglected at first to examine them 

 carefully in order to see if they were marked exactly alike. Much 

 to my surprise, however, these cutworms produced five different 

 species of moths." 



This is, to be sure, a single example ; but it is sufficient 

 to show us how useless it is to make comparisons that can be 

 relied upon with any degree of accuracy, Avithout following 

 out the entire history of each individual that presents the 

 slightest noticeable difference in size, t<hape, markings or or- 

 namentation, and notino^ with exactness each stao^e to the 



