472 MISC. PUBLICATION 657, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE 
This moth is an introduction from Europe, now known to occur in 
the United States from Maine to Ohio and Michigan. The food 
plants include red spruce, white spruce, Norway spruce, and Colorado 
blue spruce. The moths are active in June. Eggs are deposited on 
the needles, usually one per needle, and hatch in Y July. The young 
larva avoids the needles of the current season’s erowth and usually 
begins its mine near the base of one of the older needles. The late 
Heabe Proper *' found that 10 or more needles are mined by one larva 
before cold weather stops its activity. The winter is passed as a 
partly grown larva with- 
in the last needle it has 
mined. On the first 
warm days in April feed- 
ing is resumed, the larva 
mining more rapidly and 
spinning more silk 
around the bases of the 
needles. When the larva 
is nearly full grown it 
may move about on the 
twigs leaving evidence of 
its activity in one or more 
spots, often mining 
needles of the previous 
year’s growth. Proper 
also determined that 
about 15 needles are 
mined in the spring be- 
tore full growth is at- 
tained in May. As con- 
siderable silk has been 
spun, the mined needles 
are webbed together and 
often he more or less in 
bunches appressed to the 
twig (fig. 108). Pupa- 
tion takes place in a whit- 
ish cocoon usually spun 
between the mined nee- 
dles and the twig 
Sometimes this insect causes serious defoliation, particularly in the 
spruce forests along the coast of Maine. - The dried, mined needles 
webbed together on “the tw igs of ornamentals, even in a light infesta- 
tion, give the trees an unhealthy and unsightly appearance. 
For control of this insect. spray as soon as possible after the eggs 
have hatched, or early in the spring when the larvae are becoming 
active after their hibernation through the winter, using powdered lead 
arsenate at the rate of 5 pounds to TO 10 gallons of water plus 4 ounces 
of fish oil or linseed oil to each pound of the lead arsenate, as an ad- 
hesive. The poison must be retained on the foliage for a rather 
long period in order to be effective, as a larva can obtain a toxic dose 
Ficaure 108.—Terminal of a red spruce heay ily 
infested by Lpinotia nananda, 
* Unpublished notes, 
Cc 
