38 



the apple-maggot continue up to the present time, converting the pulp 

 of the apple into a mere hone3^comb, and rendering another over-haul- 

 ing soon indispensable." 



I hope cider-drinkers will make a note of the fact that maggoty 

 apples can be converted into excellent cider. They would probably 

 not like to eat the maggots bodily; but they smack their lips after 

 drinking the expressed juice of millions of these tender young larvae. 

 Yet, as the old saying is, "One may as well eat the devil as drink his 

 broth." 



On December 28th, 1866, Mr. W. C. Fish, of East Falmouth, 

 Massachusetts, sent me a further sup2)ly of these same apple-maggots, 

 with the following account of their operations in his vicinity : 



"This insect is very nnmerr)us in this section of country, lieing 

 much more abundant in the thin-skinned summer and fall apples than 

 in the later varieties. It seems to increase every year. Within a few 

 rods of the house in which I am writing, stand five or six trees of the 

 old-fashioned variety called Hightop or Summer Sweets. On these 

 trees the crop of apples is annually rendered worthless by this insect, 

 which tunnels the fruit in all directions. x\pples which, when taken 

 from the tree, appeared sound, would in the course of a few weeks, 

 as soon as they became mellow, be found to be alive with these pests, 

 sometimes to the number of six or more in each apple, although not 

 commonly as many as that. I have found that, in most cases, the 

 fruit had been previously perforated by the larva of the Codling 

 Moth (Carpocapsa pomonella), before becoming inhabited by this 

 insect." 



During the same winter I also received pupje of this same insect 

 from my intelligent correspondent, Isaac Hicks, of North Hempstead, 

 Long Island, ISTew York, who finds it a great pest there. According 

 to Dr. Trimble, the State Entomologist of New Jersey, "this new and 

 formidable enemy of the apple prevails generally throughout the Hud- 

 son River country, but has not yet reached New Jersey." {N. Y. Sem. 

 Tribune, July 17, 1867.) Mr. Calvin Ward, of Vermont, complains 

 of a larva, which is probably identical with the Apple-maggot, boring 

 his apples for the last few years in all directions, and adds that "this 

 insect does more injury to him than all other insects combined," and 

 that "in 1865 it injured his apples to the extent of one-half their 

 value, though it is not the only one that preys on them ; but in 1866 it 

 has not been so bad." (Frac. Entom. II. pp. 20 — 21.) Certainly, 

 from Mr. Ward's description, the lar.va which he complains of could 

 not have been the common Apple-worm, though it may possibly have 

 been Dr. Fitch's Apple-midge, respecting which see above, p. 22. 



