6 
In the address which it became my duty to deliver before this asso- 
ciation one year ago I took occasion to emphasize the importance of 
more life-history study and a greater degree of cooperation in our 
work. As I exhausted my store of good advice at that meeting, and 
wish to seem to practice what I preach, I have concluded to offer at 
this time the results of some life-history studies on one of our longest, 
if not best, known insects—the codling moth. In this work I have 
received much kindly assistance from members of this Association and 
others who have auswered my questions, and in some cases have put 
themselves to considerable trouble to collect data and make observa- 
tions for me in their several localities. 
Probably every member of this Association has been disappointed 
and surprised many times at finding the lack of positive knowledge 
in regard to certain portions of the life habits of our longest known 
insect pests. It is not necessary to discover a new insect, friend or 
enemy, in order to do good original work of the highest value. 
The codling moth undoubtedly causes greater annual loss in Colo- 
rado than any other insect, unless it be the two-lined locust (JJelano- 
plus bivittatus). Our topographical and climatic conditions, with the 
plains in the east and the mountains in the west, are extremely varied, 
and there is a popular opinion among many of our orchardists that 
the habits of the codling moth in Colorado are not to be compared 
with the habits of the same insect in the Eastern portion of the country. 
For these reasons, chiefly, my studies of this insect began, one of the 
main objects being to determine whether or not there are more broods 
in the warmer portions of the State, where the tenderer fruits are 
grown, than in the northern parts and in the East. In some ways 
this report will be one of progress only, as the work is not completed. 
A few years ago we were telling orchardists that the codling moth 
lays its eggs in the calyces of the apples, and we might have been 
doing so yet had not Washburn corrected us. We were in error, and 
the fruit growers know it, and have lost confidence to some extent in 
the correctness of our statements. They do not know but what we 
are equally liable to be in error in regard to any other matter regarding 
the life habits of an insect where our statements seem to them doubt- 
ful or mysterious. I can not help wondering if some, yes, many of 
us, have not been equally careless in our statements as to the number 
of broods of the codling moth in our several States. It is often easier 
to accept the opinion of another than to verify its correctness. To be 
a thorough scientist one must be a good doubter, or at least questioner 
and thinker. Not always gainsaying the statements of others, but 
always ready to inquire into the basis of belief even of the most 
stereotyped ideas. 
Riley,! knowing there existed a difference of opinion as to the num- 
ber of broods of the codling moth in different portions of the coun- 
try, made a special study of the insect in Missouri, and announced, 
'Third Missouri Rep., p. 103. 
