Insects Injurious to the Cherry. 193 



seen that there was a very small maggot, or larva, in a large per- 

 centage of the fruitlets, which were about the size of a small grain 

 of wheat, and still had on the floral envelopes or ' caps.' " 



LlFE-HlSTORY. 



This small moth belongs to the Tineina and to the family 

 Argyresthidse, of which we have thirty -two species in this country of 

 which no less than twenty-four belong to the genus Argyrcstliia. 



The species referred to by Whitehead as a cherry enemy normally 

 lives in the shoots of hawthorn, according to Stainton(3). 



Whitehead describes the specimens as 5^ lines across the wings ; 

 the fore wings light brown, with white or cream-coloured inner 

 margins. In the middle there is a fascia of a deeper brown colour 

 which terminates in the tip of the wings. This certainly answers to 

 Stain ton's description of the species, and not to A. conjugctta, which 

 one would imagine this cherry pest to be, or still more likely A. 

 ephippdla, which is normally found on the cherry. 



The moth is said to place its eggs 011 the shoots near the flower 

 buds, where they remain during the winter, and the caterpillars hatch 

 just when the flowers are forming, and enter them, and later the fruit. 



The moth, according to Stainton, appears in May, but Whitehead 

 says the latter part of June and the beginning of July. This is the 

 time A. cphippclla appears, and is another reason for thinking White- 

 head is in error over the identification. The larva in the cherry is 

 described by Whitehead as being light green, becoming grey later 

 on ; the head brown, also the first segment ; the six true legs brown. 

 It gets into the tiny cherry, in which it is curled up, scoops out 

 the inside, and remains, it seems, for from fifteen to seventeen days 

 in the larval condition. Then it spins up in the cherry and in 

 its withered inflorescence in a densely thick white cocoon, from 

 which in about fifteen days the moth comes forth. 



OTHER SPECIES INJURIOUS TO FRUIT. 



Two others of this genus injurious to fruit occur in this country, 

 namely, A. cpliippctta, Fab., and A. conjugclla, Zeller. The first-named 

 has ochreous-brown fore wings ; the inner margin white, interrupted 

 beyond the middle by a dark brown spot which can be traced across 

 the wings as an oblique fascia, terminating on the costa. 



The second has the fore wings of a purplish fuscous hue, with 

 the inner margin whitish, interrupted beyond the middle by a dark 

 fuscous spot, nearly opposite to which is a dark fuscous spot on the 

 costa ; and on the costa towards the tip are two whitish spots. 



