77 



NOTES ON THE CODLING MOTH. 



By Augustus Simson. 



[Bead 12th August, 1879.] 



The Codling Moth (Carpocapsa pomonella) is attracting so much 

 attention at present that I hope I may be excused for making some 

 remarks upon the subject. 



This insect belongs to that family of the Lepidoptera called Tor- 

 tricidse (in French, " Tordeuses"), on account of the general habit of 

 their larvee of "twisting" or rolling up the leaves of plants of 

 their abode, usually those leaves enclosing a young shoot or 

 bud. They then devour such leaves, shoots or buds, to the great 

 detriment of the plant attacked. A few take up their abode in the 

 interior or fruits, especially the apple, pear, and plum. 



Professor Westwood, of Oxford, gave a detailed history of the 

 particular species under notice in one of a series of article on insects 

 most injurious to cultivators in England, in Loudon's Gardeners^ 

 Magazine, of May, 1838, No. 98. In the same work he gave also, 

 in No. 94, January, 1838, the history of Ditula angustiorana, the 

 larva of which does great damage to apricot trees, by tying the 

 young shoots together so firmly that their growth is stopped, and 

 by devouring the young blossom buds. Tortrix viridana in certain 

 years strips the oak of its foliage. Tortrix vitana does great 

 damage to vines in France. 



Dozens of other members of the family might be enumerated, all 

 equally mischievous to certain trees and shrubs ; I will, however, 

 only mention one more, Carpocapsa Woeheriana, the larvae of 

 which live beneath the bark of plum trees, where they bore 

 cylindrical galleries and feed upon the sap. 



It is highly improbable that this insect was brought to Hobart 

 Town in soma plums sent from the North. Each species, with very 

 few exceptions, confines itself to a particular plant, or at least to 

 plants of the same genus or order. 



It would be interesting to ascertain what the species attacking 

 the plum really is. In a catalogue of European Lepidoptera I 

 possess, the species, Carpocapsa nigricana, mentioned by Mr. Abbott, 

 is not given. It may be a synonym for the one above alluded to. 



The larvee of all this family are naked fleshy grubs with a horny 

 head, and possess six pectoral (horny and pointed), eight ventral 

 and two anal (fleshy) feet. Mr. Justice Dobson and Mr. F. 

 Abbott, junr. , have so fully detailed the proceedings of the insect 

 in all its stages in their valuable papers read at the Society's meet- 



