102 INSECTS AFFECTING VEGETATION 



the ripening fruit is on, any water covering kept on over twenty- 

 four hours would be apt to do material injury. 



An additional suggestion is that the actually infested area be 

 completely burned off as soon as its extent can be determined. The 

 vines already attacked are doomed at best, and if in destroying 

 them the insect can be also killed the loss will be balanced by a 

 greater benefit. For this burning a gasoline torch may be employed, 

 and the heat thus applied directly to the point where it will be 

 most effective. The use of the torch will also prevent setting a 

 fire that might injure other portions of the bog, since it can be used 

 when the vines are so wet that they will not burn under ordinary 

 conditions. The burned-over area can be immediately reset and the 

 actual amount of injury limited to a minimum. 



If burning is resorted to, it should be done as early in the 

 season as possible and should be extended far enough to cover the 

 entire infested portion of the bog. 



The Cranberry Fruit Worm. This is another species that is 

 much more injurious in Massachusetts than in New Jersey, though 

 it is by means unknown in the latter State, and in some seasons and 

 localities does considerable damage. As a rule, bogs that can not 

 be reflowed and high and sandy bogs suffer more. 



The adult moth appears on bogs in ordinary seasons about 

 the middle of July, when the berries are setting or have already 

 eet. It is probable that the moths remain on the 'bogs for a period 

 of at least a month, as indicated by the very unequal development 

 of the worms that are found in the berries in early September. 



The moth, with wings expanded, measures about three-fourths 

 of an inch and is of a glistening ash-gray, mottled with white and 

 blackish. The forewings are narrower than the hind wings, which 

 ore more smoky gray in color and have no markings. It is a shy 

 species, not easily started during the day, and flies with a darting 

 motion for quite long distances. It is not generally recognized, 

 therefore, even by growers who annually lose heavily by it. When 

 at rest the wings are folded close to the body, and on a cranberry 

 stem, where it usually rests head down, it is not readily seen even 

 by an experienced eye. 



The eggs are laid on the young berry, preferably in the calyx, 

 just beneath one of the lobes, but mey may be on any part of the 

 berry and possibly on the leaves as well. They are very slightly 

 convex, almost flat, round in outline, pale yellowish in color, and 

 so soft that they adapt themselves readily to any inequalities of 

 surface. The worms emerge in about five days, and for a day or 

 two feed on the outer side of the berry. Then each worm enters 

 a berry, eats out the seed chamber, and migrates to another. The 

 vacated berry turns red, shrivels up, and eventually drops. The 

 worm, on entering its new home, carefully closes the opening be- 

 hind it with a web of fine silk, so dense that it is sometimes difficult 

 to see where the hole was made. In this second berry it becomes 

 half grown, then works out through a large jagged opening and 

 gets into a third berry, closing the point of entry as carefully as 



