154 FIRST ANNUAL REPORT OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



lying scattered on the eartli, and in about six to ten days the perfect 

 moth appeared [last of xMay]. * * * * 'j^hg t-iil of the pupa is 

 attached to a little button of silk in an exceedingly slight cocoon. There 

 was scarcely a single young tree in the peach orchard examined that 

 was not more or less injured by this little pest, and at least as many 

 as from twenty to fifty injured twigs were found on some very young 

 trees. After the insect leaves the twig, the injured part dries up and 

 breaks oflF. This insect was also seen, though in much smaller num- 

 bers, last season, in Maryland and Virginia. Apple-trees are also simi- 

 larly injured in a like manner in Maryland, and it is probable that the 

 damage was done by the same worm. 



'•The larvae are about 0.25 inch in length ; head black ; body dark 

 reddish-brown, with lighter rings — the third ring being more con- 

 spicuous and whitish. The moth is quite small, and measures from 

 0.40 to 0.60 of an inch in expanse of wings, and is of a pale gray color 

 with a few blackish spots on the upper wings." 



Professor Comstock has written of the ravages of this insect in 

 Western New York. His statement of its habits dififer in some par- 

 ticulars from that of Mr. Glover, above quoted. According to his ob- 

 servations, "it destroys the terminal leaf-bud, and sometimes the 

 lateral buds, in the following manner : The young caterpillar begins 

 its work in the spring at the time, or soon after, the shoots begin to 

 grow. These, when from one-half to one inch in length, are punc- 

 tured at the base and eaten off. The leaves of the bud unfold and 

 then wither. The twig, although severed, does not dropoff, but is held 

 in place by a gummy substance. All the twigs on some trees are de- 

 stroyed, especially on the two-year old trees. Mr. Green, of Clifton, 

 N. Y., had one hundred trees infested. The larvae became full-grown 

 during the latter part of May or early in June. Specimens collected 

 June 10th, Avere found to have changed to pupae June 14th." The 

 time of their emerging as moths was not observed, as they were found 

 dead in their breeding-cage some time during the summer. 



Writing later of this species, Professor Comstock records the in- 

 teresting fact that he has found the larvae within peaches grown in 

 Blackstone Island, Virginia, and also in peaches on the grounds of the 

 Department of Agriculture at Washington. The larva leaves the peach 

 before transforming, and suspends itself to the outside of the fruit, 

 spinning no cocoon at all. It was ascertained that the species was 

 double-brooded, the early brood which feed in the terminal twigs and 

 buds, maturing, in the latitudeof Washington, during May and June, 

 and the later brood — the fruit-inhabitingf — found durins: the latter 

 part of July and August and maturing during September.* 



*I^ej>f. Commis. A(tricul. for 1879, (1880), p. 255. 



