362 FRUir INSECTS 



The moths appear in the strawberry fields m early May in 

 New Jersey and in April in southern Missouri. The female 

 deposits her pale green, round or slightly oval, strongly flattened 

 eggs singly on the underside of the leaves. One observer says 

 they are laid on the upper side along the mid-rib. The eggs 

 hatch in about a week and the young caterpillars crawl to the 

 upper surface, where they feed for a day or two openly on the 

 upper epidermis without any protective covering. Within 

 a few days the larva begins to draw the two halves of the leaflet 

 together with silken threads and finally produces a complete 

 fold, within which it finishes its growth in about a month. 

 When full-grown it is about | inch in length, varies in color 

 from yellowish to greenish-brown and has the head and cervical 

 shield shining brown. It transforms to a pale brownish pupa, 

 y\ inch in length, within the folded leaf, and in about ten days 

 the moth emerges. From 42 to 50 days are required for the 

 development from egg to moth. In New Jersey there are three 

 generations a year, but the later broods greatly overlap. Farther 

 north there are only two generations a year, while there is some 

 evidence of a fourth brood in Kentucky. The insect hibernates 

 both as a larva and as a pupa. At the approach of cold weather 

 some of the partly grown caterpillars desert the leaves and seek 

 shelter beneath trash or the mulch, returning to the leaves to 

 complete their growth the following spring; while those that 

 are mature transform to pupae and remain in that condition 

 in the folded leaves until the following spring, when they give 

 rise to the first brood of moths. 



The strawberry leaf-roller also attacks the blackberry and 

 raspberry, being especially abundant on these plants during the 

 latter part of the season. On strawberries it is usually the first 

 brood that causes the greatest loss. The caterpillars of the 

 later broods are, as a rule, less numerous and, owing to the greater 

 quantity of foliage on which to feed, cause less apparent injury 

 to the plants. 



