338 [ THE PEACH AND THE NECTARINE 



of Lachnus, belonging to the Aphideae is often found in 

 large numbers on the stems and branches of peach trees 

 growing in the shade, but the damage caused by them is 

 never important. 



The fruit -fly Ceratitis capitata is the cause why the 

 cultivation of our excellent peaches and nectarines 

 has been neglected in the last two or three decades. 

 Peaches and nectarines maturing after the end of June 

 are invariably visited by the fly, and in badly infested 

 districts the crop is entirely destroyed, being often 

 impossible to find one peach or one nectarine which has 

 been allowed to ripen without being punctured by the fly. 

 After a severe winter or a cold spring the early peaches 

 maturing before the end of June generally escape 

 destruction as the fly would be then too much reduced in 

 numbers to cause much havoc, and the same thing 

 happens with the earlier nectarines, but peaches maturing 

 in midsummer or after, are invariably destroyed year 

 after year so that the grower is often induced to give up 

 their cultivation as a hopeless affair Unfortunately there 

 is no known remedy against the fly and the grower must 

 try to save his fruits by putting them in bags of cheap 

 cloth as recommended for the pear. This of course involves 

 trouble and a considerable expense, but the bags will be 

 useful for several years in succession, and the expense will 

 be amply recouped by the good prices paid for fine 

 healthy fruit. 



The larvae of the moth Diloba coeruleocephala Lin. 

 are often found eating the ioliage of peach trees growing 

 near almond trees which have been denuded or partly 

 denuded of their foliage by this pest, but it seems that 

 these larvae only resort to the peach when the foliage of 

 the almond fails them. 



In continental Europe the following species of Lepi- 

 doptera feed on the foliage of the peach : Porthesia 

 chrysorrhea Lin., P. auriflua V\$.>Acronycta ttidens Schiff. 

 A. Psi Lin., Papilio Podalirius Lin., Bombyx nenstria 



