The Moths and Butterflies 



381 



Fig. 542. — The rus- 

 sct-brown tortrix, 

 Phitynota /J<ivrdaita. 

 (After Lugger; 

 natural size.) 



may often be seen cleverly engaged in extracting one by one the toothsome 



morsels from their homes. Hovering over a rolled leaf, the bill is carefully 



thrust into the roll for the unseen caterpillar and rarely withdrawn without 



it. Lugger .says that the Baltimore oriole is particularly e.xpert at this sort 



of hunting unseen prey. 



A certain Tortricid, accidentally imported many years ago from Europe, has 



become one of our serious grape pests. This is the grape-berry moth, Eii- 



demis holrana, whose small slender whitish-green, black- 

 headed larva; bore into green and ripening grapes and 



feed there on the pulp and seeds. When full-grown the 



larva becomes olive-green or dark brown and, forsaking 



the grape-berry, cuts out of a grape-leaf a little tJap which 



it folds over and fastens with silk, thus forming a small 



oblong case within which it pupates. The moth expands 



f inch, and has slaty-blue fore wings, marked with dark 



reddish-brown bands and spots, while the hind wings are uniform dull brown. 



Another well-known Tortricid pest is the bud-moth, Tmelocera ocellana 



(Fig. 543), whose larva: burrow into opening fruit- and leaf-buds on apple- 

 trees and eat them. The moth expands f inch and is 

 dark ashen-gray with a large irregular whitish band on 

 the fore wing. 



By far the be.st known and mo.st feared and hated 

 Tortricid is the codlin-moth, Carpocapsa pomoncUa (Figs. 

 545 and 546), the most important enemy of the apple- 

 grower. Distributed all over the United States, wherever 

 apples are grown, minute and obscure so as to be 

 easily overlooked until fairly intrenched in the orchard, 



prolilk and subject to no very disastrous parasitic attacks, this frail little 



species causes losses to fruit-growers of no less than $10,000,000 annually. 



The moth, which hides by day and is seldom seen, has the fore wings 



marked with alternate irregular transver.se wavy streaks of ash-gray and 



brown, with a large tawny spot on the inner 



hind angle, the hind wings and abdomen 



light yellowish brown with a satiny luster. It 



lays its eggs (for the first generation, the .species 



being two-brooded over most of the country) 



on the top of the newly forming apple, or 



sometimes, as recently observed in California, 



on the side of the tiny fruit. The larv;c, hatch- 

 ing in from three to five days, begin to feed on 



the green fruit, soon burrowing into its center. 



Fig. 54i. — The 



spotted bud-moth, 

 Tm ctoccra ocella na. 

 (.■\fter Lugger; 

 natural size.) 



Fig. 544. — The cranberry 

 worm-moth, Rhopubota vac- 

 ciniana. (.\ftcr Lugger; 

 natural size indicated by 

 line.) 



They become full-grown before the a])|)les ripen, burrow out and crawl 



