168 ELEMENTARY LESSONS ON INSECTS 



fruit to pucker at the blossom end; stems toughen, and no 

 drop occurs; hence, too many apples on a twig, competing, 

 and they remain small; aphids leave the apple trees in June. 



3. The codling moth: Damage done by the larva, which 

 eats its way deeply into the apple; two broods a season; 

 first brood generally enters at blossom end, second brood 

 generally at the side where a leaf or a twig or another apple 

 touches; larva bores down into the core; brown pellets in 

 the burrow; larva leaves apple and transforms under loose 

 bark or other shelter; the hole is plugged while the larva 

 remains inside. This is the worst pest of the apple grower. 



4. The lesser apple worm: Damage done by larva, similar 

 to the preceding, but smaller; burrows less deeply, mostly 

 just underneath the skin of the apple, leaving the skin un- 

 eaten, except for the entrance hole, and remains longer in 

 the apple in autumn. 



5. The plum curculio: Damage done by both adult and 

 larva; adults feed on young fruit, eating small round holes 

 in the skin, and then eating under the skin as far as the 

 beak can reach; adult female also makes other punctures 

 in which to deposit her eggs; half way around each egg 

 puncture she cuts a crescentic slit in the skin of the apple; 

 scars, therefore, are of two shapes; circular, around feeding 

 punctures, and semicircular (one side is at least straightish) 

 around egg punctures. 



6. The apple maggot: The larva of a pretty fly; attacks 

 nearly mature apples. The adult fly inserts her eggs through 

 minute punctures in the skin; the soft white legless and 



