10 BULLETIN 12*73, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



opened, the larva chews its way into it from the outside, but if the 

 leaves are unfolding, as is usually the case, it makes its way into the 

 heart of the cluster, leaving little external evidence of its presence. 

 When not feeding, it conceals itself in any convenient place — the 

 curled edge of an unexpanded leaf, or among the stems at the base 

 of the cluster. After feeding for a short time, sometimes in the 

 unopened blossom buds, and sometimes on the foliage, the larva 

 constructs a tubular nest, usually in a fold or the curled portion of 

 a leaf, sometimes between two leaves which touch. All large gaps 

 are closed, and the nest is lined with silk, in which are frequently 

 embedded bits of leaf tissue and more or less frass. The leaf in 

 which the nest is constructed is often partially severed at the base, 

 causing it to wilt and turn brown, and is usually attached with silk 

 to an uninjured leaf or stem, which prevents the nest from falling 

 when the leaf dies. Sometimes the nest is made in the terminal 

 leaf of a shoot (PI. I, A). While the leaf in which the nest is con- 

 structed is still green, the larva feeds on it, but as the leaf dies and 

 becomes dry the larva goes out to feed on adjacent leaves, at first 

 skeletonizing small areas on either surface of the leaf, and later 

 sometimes consuming entire sections of leaf. In some cases the larva 

 burrows into and down one of the growing shoots, causing the tip 

 to die. While the larval nests are occasionally constructed in other 

 places, the great majority of them are to be found in dead leaves. 

 The lesser bud moth and the leaf -rollers are more likely to make 

 their headquarters in living leaves, which are rolled, curled, folded, 

 or tied, as the case may be. The lesser bud moth often webs together 

 the tip of the leaf cluster, which bulges out as the leaves grow. 

 Occasionally the bud moth will desert its nest and construct another. 



Efforts to observe closely the successive molts as they occurred 

 have been only partially successful, as the unavoidable necessity of 

 disturbing the larvae in their nests for the purpose of making obser- 

 vations brings about a high mortality. By starting with a large 

 number of individuals, however, it was determined in the spring of 

 1921 that some of the larvae molt twice in the spring and others three 

 times, except in the occasional instances where hibernation is de- 

 layed until the fifth stage, in which case the number of molts in the 

 spring is one less than usual. This makes the number of stages six 

 in some cases, and seven in others. Sixth-stage larvae which are to 

 pass through a seventh stage are somewhat smaller than those com- 

 pleting their development in the sixth stage, but the measurements 

 overlap, and v it is impossible to determine to which stage a nearly 

 full-grown larva belongs, unless observations have been made at 

 regular intervals since emergence from hibernation. 



Besides feeding on the leaves and growing shoots, the larvae when 

 nearly full-grown occasionally attack the newly set fruit, causing it 

 to drop off, or become deformed and disfigured by an extensive corky 

 area. 



When the feeding period is at an end, the larva makes prepara- 

 tions for pupation. In some cases it remains in its feeding shelter ; 

 in others it deserts this place, and finds another sheltered spot, in a 



