56 



FRUIT INSECTS 



The Ribbed Cocoon-maker of the Apple 



Bycculatrix ponvifoUella Cleme 



ns 



Fig. 60. 



Cocoons of the ribbed cocoon-niaker. 



The small Init conHpicuous whitish, distinctly ribbed co- 

 coons, about J of an inch long, of this insect, often occur in large 

 numbers in autumn on the undersides of the smaller branches 



.^^ of apple trees (Fig. 

 r^^^m 60), and may first 

 ■. reveal to the fruit 

 grower its presence 

 in the orchard. It is 

 usually a local pest 

 in widely separated 

 orchards, but has a wide distribution over the eastern half 

 of Canada and in the United States from Maine to Texas. 

 Although it is capable of doing much damage to foliage, it is 

 rarely a serious pest, and attacks only the apple, other fruit trees 

 being apparently immune even when growing in close proximity 

 to apples. A little brown pupa hibernates in the white cocoons, 

 and when the leaves _ 



are unfolding in May 

 it works halfway out 

 of one end of the 

 cocoon and there 

 emerges a tiny, light 

 brown moth about 

 yo of an inch in 

 length with each front wing marked with a large, dark brown 

 spot (Fig. 61). In a few days, minute, pale green, elliptical, 

 iridescent, roughened eggs are laid singly on the under 

 surface of the leaves. The tiny caterpillars which hatch 

 from these eggs in from 6 to 10 days burrow directly into 

 the leaf, where for about a week they make narrow mines 



Fig. 61. — Ribbed cocoon-niaker moth (X 8). 



