236 Bush-Fruits 



THE BUD-MOTH 



Tmetocera ocellana, Schiffermuller 



The bud-moth is primarily an apple insect but often attacks black- 

 berry plants, as well as other fruits. It spends the winter as a half- 

 grown, dark brown, black-headed caterpillar, in a little silken retreat 

 near the buds. As soon as the buds begin to open in spring the 

 caterpillars leave their winter quarters and begin feeding on the 

 tender buds. They tie the expanding leaves and flowers together 

 with silken threads, drawing in more leaves and flowers as needed. 

 The partly eaten leaves soon turn brown, thus rendering the work 

 conspicuous. 



The larva lives most of the time within a tube formed by rolling 

 the edge of the leaf down, fastening it, and sparsely lining the in- 

 terior with silk. It comes forth from this tube to feed, but quickly 

 retreats into it again when disturbed. Pupation occurs in a cocoon 

 formed in a similar manner. The moths, which in New York ap- 

 pear in the latter part of June, fly mostly at night, remaining quiet 

 on the trunk and limbs of trees during the day, and are so similar to 

 the bark in color as not to be easily seen. 



The eggs are generally laid singly on the under surface of the 

 leaves, and are so nearly transparent that they closely resemble 

 fish scales or minute drops of water. They hatch in from seven 

 to ten days, and these summer larvse soon make themselves a tube 

 of silk mingled with bits of excrement. They feed on the epidermis 

 and inner tissue of the leaf, not eating through it, and spin a protect- 

 ing web over their entire feeding ground. After the third moult, 

 when they have attained a length of about 4 millimeters, they leave 

 their tubes, and make for themselves a little silken cell in some crevice 

 or roughness of the bark, where they pass the winter, in readiness for 

 the opening buds the following spring. Their injuries at that time 

 are particularly exasperating, because they apparently destroy as 

 many leaves and flowers as possible by eating only a part of each. 

 There is normally but one brood in northern latitudes, though since 

 the larvse hibernate when half-grown, two different generations 

 appear during the same season. 



