nEPORT OF THE EXTOMOLOGIST AND BOTANIST. 199 



of the Apple Fiuit-miner do agree closely, the habits of the larvte as given by Prof. 

 MaLsumura {loc. cit) and as described in my annual report for 1896, differ upon what 

 seem to be such important characters that for the present I can hardly think that the 

 two attacks are by the same species. The writer of the article referred to says that the 

 larvfe live only in apple cores, injuring the seeds, that there is usually only one egg 

 deposited on each apple, and that the cocoons are made in the earth whenever possible. 



The British Columbian insect very rarely attacks the cores and seeds of the fruit. 

 There are usually several, two, three or more, larvte in each apple, and the cocoons are 

 made beneath flakes of the bark on the trees or beneath leaves or rubbish on the sur- 

 face of the ground, 



I have lately received the following intereiting note from Prof. Enzio Reuter, of 

 Helsingfors, Finland, on the occurrence of A. covjngella in Europe : — " I have read 

 your report with great interest. Argyresthia conjugella has during the past summer 

 infested the fruit of apple trees throughout the whole of Finland. This is owing bo a 

 total failure of sorb-apples (Sorbus Aucuparia, L.)* and bird-cherries {Primus Fadus, 

 DC), in which the larvjc commonly feed." 



All efforts to discover the egg or the egg-laying habits of the moth have so far 

 failed, and no proved, practical remedy is yet available. At Mr. Palmer's suggestion, 

 many of the fruit growers in the districts where this insect has been troublesome, have 

 adopted the wise precaution of picking and destroying every apple which showed the 

 attacks of the larva;. 



Prof. Matsumura suggests the catching of the moths of the Japanese insect by 

 suspending large-mouthed bottles containing sweet solutions beneath the trees at nig'nt; 

 he points out that these should be closed during the day time so that many useful or 

 harmless insects may not be destroyed. 



The Plum Moth or Lesser Apple-worm {Grapholitha [^Semasia] pi'univora, 

 Walsh). — For many years British Columbian apple growers have referred to a small 

 caterpillar which in every thing but size answered to the caterpillar of the Codling 

 Moth. The insect was not abundant and all efforts to obtain specimens to rear the 

 moth failed. Last year a few were secured by Mr. E. A. Carew-Gibson and success- 

 fully reared to maturity. The perfect insect, a small moth, was kindly identified by 

 Dr. L. 0. Howard, the United States Entomologist, and proved to be the same insect 

 as was treated of and figured by Benjamin Walsh in his First Report as State Entomo- 

 logist of Illinois, under the name of the Plum Moth (Semasia ^yrunivora). Walsh bred 

 specimens of the moth from plums, from the fungous growth known as the Black Knot of 

 the plum, from the Cock's-comb-like hollow gall {uhnicola. Fitch) on the leaves of elms, 

 which is produced and inhabited by plant-lice, and lastly from a hollow gall on the leaf of 

 i-ed oak. In addition to the above, the late Dr. C. Y. Riley {Am. Ent. {Ill), n. s., I, 

 131) adds that he has bred the moth from galls on oak, from haws, from crab-apples and 

 abundantly from cultivated apples. I have at different times bred the moth from 

 apples and haws at Ottawa, from near Toronto and from Lachine, Que. I can find no 

 reference in recent publications to serious injury to either apples or plums by this moth. 

 Single specimens of the caterpillar have been sent in occasionally from Quebec and 

 Ontario, but, as far as I am aware, they have never been sufficiently abundant to be 

 more than noticed by the curious. Last year, however, Mr. R. M. Palmer expressed 

 fears, from the numbers he was finding in British Columbian apples, that the insect 

 might develop into a pest of importance. At that time he complained only of the com- 

 monest form of attack by the caterpillar, which is to feed beneath a web upon the skin 

 of the apple, around and inside the cup at the calyx end, or occasionally to burrow 

 more or less extensively under the skin. When visiting British Columbia last summer, 

 in the last week of July, I was shown by Mr. Carew-Gibson a large number of apples 

 which had been handed over to him by Mr. Palmer, which were very seriously infested, 

 both by this insect and also by the Apple Fruit-miner. Upon cutting open several of 

 the infested apples, I was surprised to find how exactly in many instances the work of- 



In this country called " Mouutaiu Ash " or " Rowan tiee. 



