U. S. D. A.. B. E. Bnl. fiS, Part V. D. F. I. I., January 8, 1908. 



PAPERS ON DECIDUOUS FRUIT INSECTS AND INSECTICIDES. 



THE LESSER APPLE WORM. 



(EiKiniioiiiii jtiiniii'ord Wiilsli.) 

 By A. L. QUAINTANCE, 



hi charric of DcchJuous Fruit Insect lur est iyat ions. 

 INTRODUCTION. 



During the past three years the species known as Enarm,onia pru- 

 nivora has been found very connnonly infesting the fruit of the ap]3le 

 in various parts of the United States, in some sections so abundantly 

 as to cause serious loss to orchardists, the insect ranking in impor- 

 tance as an apj)le pest close to the codling moth. 



The small, fusiform, flesh-colored larvae, about three-eighths of an 

 inch long, injure the fruit around the calyx by eating out shallow 

 cavities or boring holes into the flesh from one-fourth to one-half inch 

 or more in depth, in the ripening fruit occasionally penetrating to the 

 seeds. The surface of the fruit, especially in the calyx basin, is also 

 injured, the larva? working beneath the skin and eating out galleries 

 or large blotch mines, frequently with holes or borings extending 

 more deeply into the flesh. The work of this species resembles rather 

 closely that of the codling moth, and the similarity of the larva 

 to the codling moth larva and a further similarity in the life his- 

 tories and habits of the two species have doubtless been responsible 

 for the almost complete oversight in the United States of this species 

 as an important enemy of the apple. 



HISTORY. 



The lesser apple worm was discovered by Walsh in Illinois during 

 July, 18G7, in the course of a study of the plum curculio {Conotrache- 

 lus nenuj)har Hbst.). Walsh found the larva in plum and about a 

 month later bred out numerous moths from the same fruit. In the 

 Prairie Farmer for December, 1867, page 359, under tlie caption 

 " The plum moth," he makes brief reference to his discovery, and the 

 same year, in the First Report of the State Entomologist of Illinois, 



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