IMPORTANT PECAN INSECTS AND THEIR CONTROL. 



FIG. 3. The pecan nut ca-e-hearer: Place of pupa- 

 tion in pecan nut. 



The pupa (fig. 2, at left) is brown 

 and of the usual form. It is 

 rounded at the posterior end, 

 and here it hears a cluster of small 

 hooked spines. Pupation always 

 takes place in the infested nut 

 or shoot (fig. 3), and upon emer- 

 gence of the moth the pupal skin 

 is not left protruding as it is in 

 the case of certain other insects. 



SEASONAL HISTORY AND HABITS. 



This insect has three distinct 

 generations during the year. 

 The larvse which, have lived 

 through the winter become active 

 at the time when the foliage ap- 

 pears in the spring and they 

 attack the young and tender 

 shoots, in which they tunnel by 

 eating out the interior, leaving the 



outside intact (fig. 4). The moths of the first generation, which are 



the progeny of the moths developing from the hibernating larvse, 



make their appearance from May 7 to 24 and soon after emergence 



lay their eggs. The eggs are invariably deposited on the calyx 



end of the nut, and usually at or near the 



base of the calyx lobes. From 5 to 7 days are 



required for the eggs to hatch. The larva, as 



soon as it gnaws its way out of the eggshell, 



crawls to the base of the young nuts, where it 



commences feeding. It bores its way into the 



nuts (fig. 5) and as it feeds it webs together, by 



means of silken threads, particles of frass and 



excrement which assume somewhat the shape 



of a tube smoothly lined with grayish white 



silk. These tubelike masses of frass are readily 



seen extruding from the base of infested nuts 



(figs 5 and 6) . The larva period lasts from 22 to 



29 days and the pupa period from 9 to 13 days. 

 M<>st moths of the second generation emerge 



from the middle of June up to the first week of 



July. It was determined that all moths in a large 



series under observation actually emerged during 



the period from June 11 to July 15, but the 



maximum emergence occurred during the last 



week in June. Second-brood larvae attack the 



FIG. 4. The pecan nut case- 

 bearer: Young pecan nut 

 infested by larva. 



