34 Provincial Board of Horticulturk 1897 



hairs on the upper surface of the hiad wing of the male only. This '^pencil" is not easily 

 distinguished but is always present. It runs in a furrow, which is noticable from the under- 

 side as a slight keel. . 



Observations made during the past season by Prof. Slingerland have demonstrated that 

 the eggs of the codlin moth are not deposited in the calyx of the fruit, as has been the gener- 

 ally accepted belief, but are usually laid on the side of the fruit. The eggs 

 The eggs. are a little smaller than the head of a pin, are flattened and transparent, so 

 that the colour of the apple shows through them. Under the microscope 

 the surface of an egg is seen to be marked with lines, and it looks somewhat like a fish scale. 

 Careful observation in orchards by Prof. Slingerland showed hundreds of eggs, scattered any- 

 where over the surface of the fruit, sometimes several on one fruit. As observed in the 

 insectary, the worm, which at first was little larger than a hair, was hatched in about ten days 

 time, and remained on the surface of the apple for several hours after emerging from the egg. 

 It then crawled about until the calyx of the fruit was reached, where it worked its way 

 between the lobes and entered the cavity. Here it remained for a number of hours, eating 

 the surface of the calyx lobes, and then gnawed its way into the apple. It will be seen from 

 what has been related, that the practice of spraying the trees with Paris green as soon as the 

 blossoms falls, which has been found effectual by practical growers, is entirely rational. At 

 this time the calyx lobes are open, and the Paris green will be readily deposited in the eye, 

 tlie fruit being turned upwards, and the poison will be eaten by the larva when it hatches 10 

 days or so later on. The closing of the calyx is also of advantage, as it covers the eye and 

 prevents the washing out of the Paris green by heavy rains. There are two or more broods of 

 the insect during the season. 



Usually the castings from the larva are pushed out through the hole by which it has 

 entered, the passage being enlarged from time to time for this purpose. Some of the castings 

 commonly adhere to the apple, hence before the worm is full grown, infested 

 '^^Sta ''es^"* fruit may generally be detected by the mass of reddish-brown exuviae pro- 

 truding from the eye. Sometimes as the larva approaches maturity, it eats 

 a passage through the apple at the side, and out of this opening it thrusts its castings, and 

 -through it the larva, when full grown, escapes. In three or four weeks from the time of hatch- 

 ing the early brood of larvae attain full growth, when the occupied apples generally fall 

 prematurely to the ground, sometimes with the worm in them, but more commonly after it 

 has escaped. The larvae which leave the apple while still on the trees, either crawl down the 

 branches to the trunk of the tree, or let themselves down to the ground by a fine silken 

 thread, which they spin at will. In either case, whether they crawl up or down, the greater 

 portion of them find their way to the trunks of the trees, where, under the rough bark, and in 

 cracks and crevices, they spin their cocoons. 



Having selected a suitable hiding-place, the larva constructs a papery-looking, silken 

 cocoon, which is white inside, and disguised on the outside by attaching to the silky threads 

 small fragments of the bark of the tree or other available debris. 



After the cocoon is completed, the change of the chrysalis takes place in the early brood 

 in about three days. At first the pupa is of a pale yellow colour, deepening in a day or two to 

 a pale brown. The insect remains in this condition about two weeks, when the moth escapes. 



Each moth is capable of laying on an average probably not less than fifty eggs, but 

 these are not all matured at once. By careful dissection they may be found in the body of the 

 moth in difi'erpnt stages of development. Hence they are deposited successively, extending 

 over a period probably of from one to two weeks or more. Add to this the fact that some of 

 the moths are retarded in their development in the spring, and it is easy to account for the 

 finding of larvre of various sizes at the same time ; indeed, sometimes the later specimens from 

 the first brood will not have escaped from the fruit before some of the young larvae of the 

 second brood make their appearance, the broods thus, as it were, overlapping each other and 

 very much extending the period for the appearance of the winged insects. 



The moth conceals itself during the day-time and appears only at night, and since it is 

 not readily attracted by light is seldom seen. The second brood of moths are usually on the 

 wing during the latter half of July, when they pair, and in a few days the female begins to 

 deposit her eggs for the later brood of larvije, generally selecting for this purpose the later 

 apples. These larvse mature during the autumn or early winter months. If they escape 

 before the fruit is gathered, they seek some sheltered nook under the loose bark of a tree or 

 other convenient hiding-place ; but if carried with the fruit into the cellar, they may often' be 



