78 



Insect Pests 



Tlie very glowing accounts so often given of tlie lienefieent fiction 

 of introduced parasites is merely throwing l)ack for years any possil>le 

 advance that niiglit be made in this interesting suViject. 



TORTRIX MOTHS ON THE APPLE. 



(Tortri.r rihciinii, Hlx ; T. Iiipa lanu, '^cXiiS.; Torlri.'ros<(iiii,JA\\Ti.; 



T. jiodiina, Sc. ; Sidrri/i iicJiU-fi:' im, Fab.; I'l/rodis rlucdidla, 



Clerck. ; and Spiloiiotn ruhoruna, Tr.) 



The abo\-e are tlie chief kinds of Tortrix ]\Ioths which have been 

 sent to me as feeding on the apple. 



Few of the Tortricidte are to be met with on the wiuu before 



June, but tliey go on apjiearing until August. The larv;e are 

 very acti\-e and can usually be told liy tlieir curious sinuous back- 

 ward movements when they are touched ; they lui\-e the normal 

 number of legs, and can thus at once be told from the AVinter :\foth 

 larv'ie. Tlie foliage and blossom is devoured by them: the iormer 

 they frequently roll up or unite together with tine silken strands, and 

 the same is done with the blossom. In tlie young stages thev feed 

 more freely, however, on the leaves, etc. The impal st'age is chietly 

 passed ill the tubes or spun -together leaves where tliey have been 

 feeiling. The winter is mostly passed in the egg s1age, but some 

 Inhernate as small larva^ in cases of debris. 



