PEACH INSECTS 285 



rowing into the pith of the tender shoots, which soon wilt and die. 

 The same larva usually attacks a number of twigs in succession 

 thus causing an amount of injury out of proportion to the quan- 

 tity of tissue consumed. Three or four larvae have been known 

 to kill a three-year-old tree by destroying all the new growth. 



When full-grown, the reddish-brown larvae, about | to \ inch 

 in length, crawl to the larger branches or trunk, where within 

 the curled flakes of the outer bark tln^y construct very loose 

 cocoons consisting of only a few threads of silk. The pupa varies 

 from light to dark yellow in color and is about \ inch in length. 

 The pupal period lasts from 10 to 12 days. The inconspicuous, 

 steel-gray moths (Fig. 246), with an expanse of about | inch, 

 deposit their white or yellowish elongate oval eggs on the bark 

 of the new twigs near the base of the leaves. These eggs hatch 

 in about ten days, and the second brood of caterpillars attack 

 the tips of the growing branches during the latter part of May in 

 California. After about 20 days, or early in June, they leave the 

 burrows in the tips of the young shoots and attack the fruit if 

 present. Most of these larvae enter the fruit at the stem end 

 along the suture and eat out a considerable cavity in the flesh, 

 which becomes filled with excrement and gum ; sometimes they 

 burrow next the stone, or in case the pit is split they may devour 

 the kernel. The second-brood larvae become mature during 

 July and August and pupate in very slight cocoons in the 

 hollow at the stem end of the peach. The third brood of moths 

 deposit their eggs on the fruit en the edge of the depression 

 around the insertion of the stem. Soon after hatching, the third- 

 brood larvae enter the fruit and feed within until full-grown, 

 when they eat their way out and pupate at the base of the fruit, 

 as in the case of the second brood. Moths of the fourth brood 

 begin to emerge by the middle of August, so that they become 

 mixed with belated individuals of the third brood. These moths 

 of the last brood deposit their eggs in late August and September 

 in cracks and rough places in the bark. These eggs hatch in 



