LEPi D OP TERA . 24 1 



The Codlin-moth, Carpocapsa pomonella (Car-po-cap'sa 

 pom-o-neria). — This is the best-known and probably the 

 most important insect enemy of the fruit-grower. The 

 larva is the worm found feeding near the core of wormy 

 apples. The adult (Fig. 288) is a beautiful little creature 

 with finely mottled pale gray or rosy fore 

 wings. There is a large brownish spot near 

 the end of the fore wing, and upon this spot 

 irregular, golden bands. The moth issues 

 from the pupa state in late spring and lays fig 288.— car/o- 



. . ,, . , . , capsa pomonella. 



its eggs singly in the maturing blossoms of 

 the apple just as the petals fall. As soon as the larva 

 hatches it burrows into the apple and eats its way to the 

 core, usually causing the fruit to fall prematurely. When 

 full grown the larva burrows out through the side of the 

 fruit, and undergoes its transformations within a cocoon, 

 under the rough bark of the tree, or in some other protected 

 place. The species is both single-brooded and double- 

 brooded. The larvae winter in their cocoons, transforming 

 to pupae during early spring. 



The method of combating this pest that is most com- 

 monly employed now is to spray the trees with Paris-green 

 water, just after the petals fall and before the young apples 

 are heavy enough to droop. The falling spray lodges in the 

 blossom end of the young apple, and the larva which hatches 

 from an egg laid in this position gets a dose of poison with 

 its first meal, and dies before it can eat its way into the 

 apple. 



The Bud-moth, Tmetocera ocellana (Tme-toc'e-ra oc-el- 

 la'na). — The larva of this insect is also a pest infesting apple- 

 trees. It works in opening fruit-buds and leaf-buds, often 

 eating into them, especially the terminal ones, so that all new 

 growth is stopped. It also ties the young leaves at the end 

 of a shoot together and lives within the cluster thus formed, 

 adding other leaves when more food is needed. Sometimes 

 so large a proportion of the fruit-buds are destroyed as to 



