178 



DESTRUCTIVE INSECTS. 



in America some time before 1750, and now occurs in nearly 

 every apple-growing section. 



The codling-moth appears in the spring about the time the 

 blossoms are falling from apple trees, and after a few days 

 glues its tiny scale-like eggs (Fig. 246) on to the skin of the 

 young fruit, or even the adjacent leaves, where they hatch in 

 about a week. The little apple-worm usually finds its way 

 into the blossom-end, where it takes its first meal and where 

 it remains feeding for several days, finaly eating its way to 



Fig. 243.- 



-The Codling-moth, natural size. (From Ludeman's " Spraying of 

 Plants," by permission of The Macmillan Company.) 



the core (Fig. 243). In about three weeks it gets nearly full- 

 grown and makes an exit tunnel to the surface, closing the out- 

 side opening of the tunnel for a few days while it feeds inside. 

 Emerging from the fruit, it usually makes its way to the 

 trunk of the tree, where it soon spins a cocoon under the loose 

 bark. Usually the first worms thus to spin up in June or July 

 soon transform to pupse, from which the adult insect emerges 

 in about two weeks, and eggs are soon laid on the leaves or 

 the skin of the apples, from which a second brood of the worms 

 hatches. In most of the more northern portions of the United 

 States only a part of the worms of the first brood pupate or 

 transform to moths the same season, but in the central, western. 



