December, 1909.] 



THE CODLING MOTH. 



67 



Although tliere is a considerable variation in the time the eggs 

 are laid, diu' to the time of emeriicnee of the individual moths 

 and the c-haraeter of the season, three years' observations would 

 indicate that most of them are laid about July 1. The eggs 

 hatch in from five to ten days, depending upon when they were 

 laid, the average time being about eight daj's. The time of 

 hatching of the eggs in relation to the time of the apple blossoms 

 dropping is most important in determining the time for the 

 second spraying, as will he shown by the experiments described 

 on page 74. In 1906 the first eggs hatched 21 days after the 

 blossoms fell, in 1907 in 11 days, and in 1908 in 21 days, while 

 the majority of the eggs hatched 26 days after the blossoms 

 fell in 1906 and 30 days in 1907 and 1908. It is evident, there- 

 fore, tliat the majority of eggs do not 

 hatch until about four weeks after 

 the blossoms fall. 



The Larva, or Apple Worm. The 

 young apple worm is at fii'st only 

 •about one-sixteenth of an inch long. 

 of a whitish color, with a shining 

 black head, and with distinct, black- 

 ish tubercles on the back, which be- 

 come quite obscure in later life. As 

 soon as the voung worm crawls from 

 the eggs it usually makes a frugal 

 breakfast upon the tender part of a 

 leaf, preferal)ly at the juncture of the 

 veins on the under surface. Indeed, 

 occasionally a worm may feed en- 

 tirely upon the foliage and transform 

 without entering an apple, as we have 

 reared them upon tender water- 

 sprouts. But this probably rarely . ^'^- ^■-^"""^'•-■"•""^''""'V'*''''! 



^ 1 ^ ^ justhatched with eggshell— enlarged 



occui's in the orchard, except, per- 

 haps, when t)iit little fruit is available. Very soon his appe- 

 tite for green apples commences to assert itself, like that of the 

 small boy, and he commences to search for young fruit. It was 

 formerly supposed that most of the eggs were laid upon the 

 apples, so that the young apple worm merely had to eat its way 



