ORCHARD INSECTS OF THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST 



Figure 2. 



-Codling-moth larva and pupa in cocoons. Twice 

 natural size. 



This poison acts rather slowly, and the worm often makes a small 

 burrow before it dies. Stings range from pin-point size, made by 

 worms that have just succeeded in puncturing the skin, to an eighth 

 of an inch or more in diameter, the larger holes being made by worms 

 that have fed for several 

 hours. Holes of the lat- 

 ter size often cause the 

 fruit to be classified as 

 culls, for although it is 

 not actually wormy it 

 is so injured that it is 

 very liable to decay: 

 Smaller stings, if prop- 

 erly healed so that 

 decay will not follow, 

 are not so important, 

 and fruit having them 

 is ordinarily not culled 

 out altogether, but is somewhat lowered in grade. Worms occasion- 

 ally feed for a time in rapidly growing twigs or in the midribs of 

 leaves, but this injury is of no consequence, and such worms are not 

 able to mature. 



LIFE HISTORY 



The codling moth passes the winter as a worm in a cocoon (fig. 2) 

 about three fourths inch long, which is constructed under the loose 

 bark of the trees, in cracks and crevices on the trunks, attached to the 

 trunk just below the surface of the ground, or in protected places in 



boxes, sacks, and packing sheds. The 

 overwintering worm just about fills the 

 cocoon and is dirty white or pinkish, with 

 a brown head. All of the last brood of 

 worms that left the fruit before it was 

 packed, and a part of the preceding 

 brood, hibernate. In the spring the worms 

 construct exit tubes of silk, transform to 

 pupae, and later to moths, which escape 

 through the exit tubes. The first moths 

 .appear about the time Winesap apple trees 

 are in bloom, and the largest numbers of 

 moths are flying late in May or early in 

 June. The moths (fig. 3) are rather in- 

 conspicuous, having a maximum wing 

 spread of about three fourths inch. The 

 front or upper wings are brownish gray, crossed with lines of fighter 

 gray, and with a bronze band at the tip. The hind wings, which 

 are covered when the moths are at rest, are grayish brown. The 

 moths five for about 2 weeks. They lay most of their eggs between 

 sundown and 9 or 10 p.m., but very few eggs are laid if the tem- 

 perature at this time is below 60° F. Under favorable tempera- 

 tures most of the eggs are laid during the second, third, and fourth 

 evenings after the moths have emerged, but in the spring cool 

 weather may prevent egg laying altogether for a week or more. The 

 eggs (fig. 4) are pearly white, about the size of pinheads, and resem- 

 ble thin convex disks. A few days after it is laid a red ring appears 



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Figure 3.— Codling moth 

 times natural size. 



