OBSERVATIONS ON BLIGHT. 145 



has now eaten half way down the apple, and the position of 

 the hole at the top, if the apple continue upright, or nearly so, 

 is inconvenient for a purpose it has up to this time been used 

 for, that is, as a pass to get rid of its little pellets of excre- 

 ment, which are something like fine sawdust or coarse sand ; 

 another communication with the outer air is therefore required, 

 and it must be so constructed as to allow the power of gravity 

 to assist in keeping it clear ; it is accordingly made directly 

 downwards towards that part of the apple which is lowest, and 

 thus the trouble of thrusting the pellets upwards through the 

 eye of the apple is saved, and a constant admission given to a 

 supply of air without any labour. The hole now made is not, 

 however, sufficiently open for an observer to gain by its means 

 any knowledge of what is going on within ; this is only to be 

 obtained by cutting open a number of the apples as they gradu- 

 ally advance towards ripeness ; the hole is, however, very 

 easily seen, from its always having adhering to it on the out- 

 side an accumulation of the little grains which have been thrust 

 through. Having completed this work the grub returns to- 

 wards the centre of the apple, where he feeds at his ease. 

 When within a few days of being full fed, he for the first time 

 enters the core through a round hole gnawed in the hard, horny 

 substance which always separates the pips from the pulp of the 

 fruit, and the destroyer now finds himself in that spacious 

 chamber which codlings in particular always have in their 

 centre. From this time he eats only the pips, never again 

 tasting the more common pulp which hitherto had satisfied his 

 unsophisticated palate : now nothing less than the highly 

 flavoured, aromatic kernels will suit his tooth, and on these for 

 a few days he feasts in luxury. 



Some how or other, the pips of an apple are connected with 

 its growth, as the heart of an animal with its life; — injure the 

 heart, an animal dies : injure the pips, an apple falls. Whether 

 the fall of his house gives the tenant warning to quit, I cannot 

 say, but quit he does, and that almost immediately ; he leaves 

 the core, crawls along his breathing and clearing-out gallery, 

 the mouth of which, before nearly closed, he now gnaws into 

 a smooth, round hole, which will permit him free passage with- 

 out hurting his fat, soft, round body ; then out he comes, and 

 for the first time in his life finds himself in the open air. He 

 now wanders about on the ground till he finds the stem of a 



NO. II. VOL. I. u 



