UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



In cooperation with the 

 Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station 



DEPARTMENT BULLETIN No. 1273 



Washington, D. C. 



October 14, 1924 



THE BUD MOTH 



By B. A. Poetee, Entomologist, Fruit Insect Investigations, Bureau of 



Entomology 



CONTENTS 



Page 



Introduction , 1 



Historical 1 



Synonymy 2 



Common name , 3 



Food plants 3 



Distribution 4 



Means of dissemination 5 



Economic importance 5 



Page 



Other species of bud moth 5 



Descriptions of stages of the bud 



moth 6 



Seasonal history and habits 8 



Natural enemies 14 



Control 16 



Summary 19 



Literature cited 19 



INTRODUCTION 



For many years the unfolding leaves and blossom buds in the apple 

 orchards of the northern part of the United States and of southern 

 Canada have been seriously injured by the small brown larvse of the 

 bud moth, Spilonota ocellana (D. & S.). This bulletin presents the 

 results of studies of this species carried on in 1920 and 1921 at the 

 field station maintained at Wallingford, Conn., for the study of fruit 

 insects, by the Bureau of Entomology, in cooperation with the Con- 

 necticut Agricultural Experiment Station at New Haven. 1 



HISTORICAL 



The native home of the bud moth seems to be Europe, where it has 

 been mentioned in entomological literature since 1776, when it was 

 described by Denis and Schifferm tiller (l) 2 under the name Tortrix 

 ocellana. The bud moth was presumably introduced into the United 

 States with the early importations of apple and other nursery stock, 

 but no mention seems to have been made of it until 1841, when 

 Harris (3) gave a short account of it under the name Penthina 

 <>n ilano.. During the next 40 years only occasional short mention 

 of the pest was made. 



1 The work of the Wallingford station has been under the direction of Dr. A. L. 

 Qpaintance. The writer was assisted In 1920 by C. H. Alden and in 1921 by H. M. Tietz. 

 The writer wishes also to thank Carl Helnrlch, of the Bureau of Entomology, for asslst- 

 ance in the preparation of the description of the full-grown larva, and R. A. Cushman, 

 A. B. Gahan, and Dr. J. M. Aldrich for parasitic determinations. 



*Nnmben in parentheses-- refer to "Literature cited," p. 19. 



9<;99.r— 24 1 



