54 DECIDUOUS FRUIT INSECTS AND INSECTICIDES. 



large percentage of the crop. Almost equally serious injury from the 

 lesser apple worm to fruit at time of harvesting was noted by the 

 writer in orchards in the vicinity of Afton, Va., during the fall of 

 1905. Observations on this species by Mr, Fred Johnson, of this 

 Bureau, at North East, Pa., during 1906, indicate that it is in that 

 locality quite as abundant and destructive to apples as is the codling 

 moth, attacking also Domestica varieties of plums. During the sum- 

 mer of 1906, in orchards in southeastern Nebraska, this insect was 

 observed by Mr. Dudley Moulton, of this Bureau, and the writer to 

 be everywhere abundant and destructive, and late in the season almost 

 equally so with the codling moth. 



Frequent examinations in the Washington markets of apples in 

 barrels, coming mostly from orchards in Maryland, Virginia, and 

 "West Virginia, show often an injury b}^ this species of from 15 to 20 

 per cent of the fruit, some of this occurring after the apples have 

 been barreled, as proved by the presence of the larva. From these 

 statements may be judged something of its present status and capa- 

 bilities as an apple pest. 



CHARACTER OF INJURY. 



The great similarity of the injury to apples by this species with 

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

 itself to an immature apple Avorm no doubt account for the fact that 

 its considerable economic importance in the United States has been 

 thus far overlooked. There are, however, certain differences in the 

 character of injury of the two species, and in most cases the work of 

 the lesser apple worm, in the absence of the insect itself, may be posi- 

 tiveh^ recognized. Injury by the first brood is perhaps confined more 

 to the calyx end of the apple than later in the season. Cavities or 

 holes from one-fourth to one-half inch deep are eaten into the flesh 

 more or less around the calyx lobes and core Avithin, the larvre eating 

 directly through the skin at the base of the sepals, or more commonly 

 entering the calyx cavity, whence they bore out into the flesh and 

 under the skin, this latter form of injury being quite easily over- 

 looked. Very commonly, also, more or less winding, but eventually 

 blotch mines are made under the skin in the calyx basin, often extend- 

 ing out to the sides; such mines also occur on the sides of the apples, 

 especially where two are in contact or where an apple is touched by a 

 leaf. jNluch of the fruit thus injured falls or ripens prematurely. 



Later in the season the blossom-end injury is about as described, 

 though there is a tendency on the part of the larva to penetrate 

 deeper into the fruit, working in numerous cases observed quite to 

 the seeds. The surface injury, however, is now rather more common, 

 the larva eating out just under the skin large irregular, more or less 

 winding or blotch mines, which are quite conspicuous. Under the 



