146 JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGY [Vol. 12 



awakened a good deal of interest among entomologists and fruit grow- 

 ers. It may be that possibilities for injury by this insect have been 

 over-emphasized. There is, however, considerable reason for fearing 

 that the insect may become a first-class pest of deciduous fruits. It 

 belongs to the same genus with the codling-moth. There are developed 

 in the latitude of Washington four or five broods of larvse each year, 

 and the behavior of the insect in orchards coming under the speaker's 

 observation leaves no doubt as to the capabilities of the insect for harm. 

 Notwithstanding all of these facts the oriental fruit moth may, of 

 course, succumb to the action of native parasites, or for other reasons 

 fail to develop into a serious pest, a result which is much to be hoped for. 



Funds were available under the appropriation for stimulating agri- 

 culture to make a rather thorough survey of the United States to deter- 

 mine the distribution of the insect. There were employed at one time 

 or another some fifteen or eighteen inspectors, and while it was possible 

 to inspect only the more important fruit-growing regions, yet the 

 scouting was so arranged that had the insect been generally scattered 

 over the country, it would have certainly been detected. Inspections 

 were made of the peach belt of the South and representative peach and 

 apple orchards were inspected in the middle Atlantic States, the middle 

 West, the Rocky Mountain States and the Pacific Coast. Briefly the 

 insect was found to occur only in a strip of territory that may be said 

 to border on each side of the railroads between Washington and New 

 York. In the environs of Washington, we have a rather severe infesta- 

 tion extending a few miles south into Virginia and northwestward to 

 about Leesburg, Va., where large commercial peach orchards are 

 located. The insect is pretty well present over southern Maryland, 

 extending northward through Frederick and Washington Counties, 

 Md. There is an infestation at Lancaster, Pa., and it has been taken 

 in the environs of Philadelphia. Northern New Jersey is more or less 

 infested, and the insect is rather generally present on ornamental and 

 other Prunus spp. on Manhattan and Long Islands. There is an 

 infestation in southern Connecticut and extreme southern New York. 



Considerable difference of opinion prevails among entomologists as 

 to the practicability of quarantine measures in the restriction of spread 

 of this species, and perhaps something should be said on this subject. 

 It should be borne in mind that the oriental fruit moth infests fruit, 

 especially peaches, apples, pears and quinces and also the tender tips 

 of nursery stock and orchard trees, particularly the peach. We may 

 fairly judge of the probable effectiveness of quarantine measures in 

 preventing the spread of the oriental fruit moth in fruit by what we 

 know of the value of such efforts in preventing the spread of the cod- 

 Hng-moth. In the case of an insect infesting fruit any adequate inspec- 



