THE BUD MOTH 5 



MEANS OF DISSEMINATION 



While fairly extensive local distribution of this insect may be 

 effected by the flight of the moths, by far the most important factor 

 in its widespread dissemination has been the ease with which it may 

 be carried on nursery stock, owing to the difficulty of detecting it 

 during the dormant season. The hibernacula are usually tucked 

 away in some inconspicuous crevice or corner. Even when not so 

 concealed they are difficult to find, so closely do they resemble the 

 surrounding bark. There is no doubt that this pest owes its present 

 extensive distribution largely to the fact that it has been repeatedly 

 transported to new localities on stock from infested nurseries, both 

 from this country and from Europe. 



ECONOMIC IMPORTANCE 



Although usually placed among the lesser insect pests of the apple, 

 the bud moth often does serious damage, and its importance is usually 

 underestimated. The commercial loss caused by this species has been 

 estimated to be as high as 30 per cent in severe infestations, although 

 a loss as great as this is doubtless unusual. In the spring the half- 

 grown larvae feed to some extent in the unopened blossoms, reduc- 

 ing very materially the amount of fruit which sets and causing in 

 years of light crops an especially serious loss, the extent of which 

 is seldom fully realized. When larvae are numerous the leaves may 

 be considerably injured, much foliage being used for the larval nests 

 in addition to the amount actually consumed. Larvae sometimes ruin 

 the growing shoots by killing the terminal leaf for use as a nest, or 

 by burrowing inside the shoot. After the fruit sets it is occasionally 

 eaten into by the nearly full grown larvae, and drops off or becomes 

 deformed and disfigured. In late summer the foliage injury by the 

 tiny worm (PL I, B) is not as extensive or as serious as in the spring, 

 but the larvae often feed to some extent on the fruit, making nu- 

 merous small, shallow blemishes (PL I, D). 



OTHER SPECIES OF BUD MOTH 



A few of the numerous leaf-feeding species of insects infesting 

 apple foliage in early spring have certain life-history details in com- 

 mon with the bud moth, and are likely to be confused with it. Short 

 accounts of a few of these species follow. 



LESSER BUD MOTH 



The lesser bud moth, Recurvaria nanella (Hbn.) {18), until 1914 

 was confused with the bud moth, and very possibly its work is often 

 still identified as being that of Spilonota ocellana. The lesser bud 

 moth winters over in hibernacula very similar to those constructed 

 by the bud moth, although not always placed as close to the buds. 

 Larvae of this species emerge a few days earlier in the spring than 

 those of the bud moth — sometimes before the buds have expanded to 

 any extent. Their feeding shelters in the leaves are usually con- 

 structed in living rather than dead foliage. On emergence from 



