20 MISC. PUBLICATION 273, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE 



Another group of small moths, belonging to the genus Laspeyresia^ 

 are destructive to fir, spruce, and other cones. The larvae are less 

 than one-half inch in length when full grown, pink or white in color, 

 with a few bristles. The moths are small and dull colored. They 

 are of the follcrwing sj)ecies: 



Species Hosts 



Laspcyresia hracteatana Fern White fir, red fir, and other firs. 



Laspeyresia youngana Keavt Spruce. 



Laspeyresla cupressana Kearf Monterey cypress. 



Cones of incense cedar in Oregon are sometimes injured by the 

 slugs of a sawfly {Augomonoctenus Jihocedri Kohw.) which*^ does 

 work similar to that of cone-feeding caterpillars. The adults are 

 one-fourth to three-eighths of an inch long, shining blue-black, with 

 the first five segments of the abdomen brick red. 



Figure 8. — Coue maggots (Loncliaea viridana) are cummouly destructive to seeds of 



white fir. x 2. 



CONE MAGGOTS 



The insects encountered in seed collecting probably more often 

 than any other group are small, white or pink, legless maggots which 

 emerge from the cones in A^ast numbers as these are spread out to 

 dry. These are the larvae (fig. 8) of tiny gnats, midges, or flies. 

 A few cause considerable injury to cones and seeds, whereas others 

 do no appreciable damage. 



Cone and seed midges (Cecidomyiidae) are found in cones as small 

 pink maggots, the larvae of small gall gnats or midges. The adults 

 are small and very similar in appearance to mosquitoes. They lay 

 their eggs on the young, green cones, and the maggots work within 

 and cause little masses of resin to form among the cone scales or 

 cause hard resinous galls to form on the scales or in the seeds. The 

 damage from these insects is usually insignificant. Of the many 

 Avestern species, only one, Janetiella sishiyou Felt, from the seeds of 

 Port Orford cedar, has been named. 



