THE APPLE. 



435 



side of the body, which otherwise is of a reddish 

 colour. In its pupa state, it is of a brownish- 

 red colour, and found in the earth from the end 

 of May to the beginning of November. The 

 male has wings, the female none. Although 

 its appearance is not strictly periodical, there 

 are some years when it by no means abounds, 

 while in others it is found in vast numbers, 

 doing much injury to apple trees as well as 

 others. The female moth quits the ground in 

 November, and, being without wings, creeps up 

 the stem of the trees. As soon as pairing has 

 taken place, she ascends to the very top, and 

 lays about two hundred eggs, not in masses, but 

 scattered over the tree. The ant is here again 

 actively employed in their destruction, and 

 small birds also play their part ; while man must 

 have recourse to the bird-lime bandage already 

 recorded, as well as any of the other precautions 

 noticed above, — and none are better and of easier 

 application than dusting the trees over with 

 finely-powdered hot lime, the finer particles, 

 while dry, finding their way amongst the scales 

 of the buds, and into the embryo flower, and 

 by their caustic property destroying the cater- 

 pillar in its young and most tender state, and so 

 preventing it from even commencing its destruc- 

 tive operations. 



The caterpillar of the small ermine moth. 

 Tinea (Yponomeuta) padeUa of Hubner, is most 

 destructive to tlie shoots of the apple tree, 

 and still more so to the hawthorn, whole 

 hedges being entirely denuded of their foliage 

 by it. The female lays from twenty to thirty 

 eggs about the end of June or beginning of 

 July, choosing for a nidus either a blossom or 

 a fruit-bud, and depositing her eggs in a mass, 

 and not singly, as in some other cases. The 

 larvse are hatched in the autumn, but do not 

 quit the hard gummy substance which the 

 female forms for the protection of her eggs 

 until the .following spring, when the caterpillars 

 are fovmd in a mass in the centre of either the 

 fruit or wood buds. They then commence their 

 ravages with an extraordinary degree of voracity, 

 devouring all before them ; and by throwing 

 finely-spun threads from their stationary resi- 

 dence, which is by this time completely covered 

 with a very fine but strong network of webbing, 

 over the adjoining shoots, they secure them also 

 for a continuance of food ; so that by the mid- 

 dle of June, when they have attained their full 

 size, they have not only devoured all the leaves 

 withiu their reach, but covered the twigs also 

 with an unsightly webbing. As soon as they 

 are fully grown, and have at that time attained 

 the length of four or five lines, and assumed a 

 dirty-yellowish colour, with a black head, and 

 a longish black spot on the side of each abdo- 

 minal segment, they draw near together, and 

 each spins for itself a small web, in which it 

 changes to a brownish-yellow pupa, remaining 

 in this state only a few days, when it is trans- 

 formed into the moth state. From the circum- 

 stance of their living in communities, and en- 

 veloping themselves in these conspicuous webs, 

 they are easily detected, and destroyed by hun- 

 dreds. 



The codlin moth, Tortrix {Carpucupsa) po- 



CODLIN AlOTH AND GRUB. 



monana of Linnaeus, fig. 177, has become a sad 

 pest to the Ameri- 

 Fig. 177. can orchardists, 



and by Downing 

 is said to have 

 been introduced 

 to that land of 

 apples from Eu- 

 rope. It appears 

 in the early worm- 

 eaten apples and 

 pears in the form 

 of a reddish-white 

 grub, and causes 

 the fruit to fall 

 prematurely from 

 tlie tree. It is 

 equally destruc- 

 tive in Europe, 

 and is very gene- 

 rally distributed ; 

 perhaps there is 

 no garden in which 

 its appearance has 

 not been recog- 

 nised. The follow- 

 ing description of it is from Kollar's work on 

 insects, translated from the German by J. and 

 M. Loudon : " This moth is to be seen in 

 the evening, usually in the beginning of May, 

 on the apple and pear trees, busily engaged de- 

 positing its eggs either on the calyx, or in the 

 hollow part of the fruit at the stalk end. It 

 appears to prefer apples to pears— at least more 

 grubs are found in the former than in the'latter, 

 when both sorts of fruit are plentiful. It in- 

 variably selects the finer sorts of this fruit, 

 knowing instinctively that they will be the most 

 palatable to its future progeny. In favourable 

 weather the little grubs are hatched in a few 

 days, so that in May apples and pears are found 

 infested by them. At first the grub is white, 

 with a black head and collar, and black slanting 

 double dots, which run in four rows from the 

 head to the abdomen. It afterwards becomes 

 more of a flesh colour, the head and collar turn- 

 ing brown, the dots grey and indistinct. It is 

 fully grown in three or four weeks, as its food 

 " never fails. It now leaves the fruit, whether it 

 be still hanging on the tree or has fallen off, and 

 selects for itself a secure place on the stem of 

 the tree to spin its cocoon and become a pupa. 

 It usually chooses the rents and seams of the 

 loose bark, hollows itself out a chamber, and 

 spins a white web over itself, intermixing some 

 of the loose bark with it. The little grub be- 

 comes a pupa immediately in the web, and in a 

 few days the moth comes out, which shortly 

 afterwards pairs, and deposits eggs on the fruit. 

 In this way, in July and August, and partly in 

 September, much sound fruit will again be 

 pierced and infected with the caterpillar of this 

 moth, which is then numerous in proportion to 

 the number of eggs of the first generation which 

 were laid and hatched in May. In the year 

 1822, which was warm and dry, more than the 

 half, particularly of the choice fruit, was grub- 

 eaten, and moths were still seen laying their 

 eggs till the end of September. Fortunately 



