INSECT ENEMIES OF WESTERN FORESTS 



21 



FIR CONE MOTHS 



Cones of white, red, and other true firs, and of Douglas-fir, 

 are most seriously injured by the attack of small moths of the 

 genus Barbara. The yellowish-white caterpillars mine through 



Figure 6. — A pine cone moth Laspeyresia piperana: A, Adult, X 2; B, cater- 

 pillars feeding through ponderosa pine cone; pupa in pith. (Drawing by 

 Edmonston.) 



scales and seeds, making a tortuous resinous tunnel and an 

 opening at the surface through which resin and larval castings 

 exude. The pupae overwinter near the axis of the cone in a papery, 

 resin-coated cocoon among the resin-matted scales. The adults, 

 which are gray moths about y 2 inch long and with speckled fore- 

 wings, emerge the following spring and lay their eggs on the 

 young tender budding cones. The several species and varieties 

 listed below cause this type of damage: 



Species of Barbara Hosts and distribution 



colfaxiana Kearf Douglas-fir. California, Oregon, Washington, 



and British Columbia. 

 colfaxiana var. taxifoliella 



Busck Douglas-fir. Idaho and Montana. 



colfaxiana var. color adensis 



Hein Douglas-fir and white fir. Colorado. 



colfaxiana var. siskiyouana 



Kearf White fir and red fir. California and Oregon. 



ulteriorana Hein Douglas-fir. Oregon. 



