INSECTS ATTACKING LARGE FRUITS. 83 



for 1885, Mr. A. N. Godfrey mentions it (p. 163) as an apple 

 pest, but says "it is never seriously injurious." 



In the First Annual Report of the Kansas Experiment Sta- 

 tion, State Agricultural College, for 1888, Prof. E. A. Popenoe 

 ( p. 209 et seq.) writes of this pest. Referring to its presence in 

 Kansas, he says: 



Among the numerous insects concerning which information has been 

 asked during the season past, none, seemingly, has attracted more gen- 

 eral attention than the Apple-twig Borer. Specimens of the insect, and 

 its work in grape-vines and apple twigs, have reached us from various 

 points in eastern and central Kansas, Norton and Lane being the west- 

 ernmost counties from which complaints are noted. 



In a letter, with specimens, to this department last May, a cor- 

 respondent at Solomon Rapids, Mitchell county, says: "I fear 

 they will destroy my orchard." However, not much fear for old 

 trees need be entertained. Most of the injury is done in the nur- 

 sery and in recently-set-out orchards. 



FALL WEB -WORM. 

 (Hyphantria textor Harris; Order, Lepidoptera.) 



Diagnosis. Attacking the apple; caterpillars about an inch 

 long or less, pale yellowish to bluish-black, covered with tufts of 

 long, yellowish hairs, arising from small, black or orange-yellow 

 protuberances ; feeding in swarms within large webs, occasionally 

 outside of the webs, in late summer and early autumn (not in 

 spring) ; attacking, also, other fruit-trees and forest trees. 



Description and Life-history. The adult insect is a milk-white, 

 unspotted moth, measuring about 1 i inches from tip to tip of ex- 

 panded wings. It flies at night. The eggs are laid in patches on 

 the under sides of the leaves, in June. The larvse issue in July and 

 August, and immediately spin a web inclosing the group. They 

 eat only the soft portion of the leaves, leaving the veins and under 

 skin untouched. The young larva is pale yellowish, with scatter- 

 tering hairs, black head, and a longitudinal stripe on each side of 

 the body, yellow interrupted by black speckles. They feed vora- 

 ciously, and when full-grown suddenly leave the webs and scatter 

 over the tree. The full-grown larva has a greenish-yellow ground 



