CRANBERRY PESTS 
larvae, which are slender, grayish cater- 
pillars, with shining, light chestnut-brown 
heads, and yellowish thoracic shields, pass 
the winter in a torpid condition within a 
Silken tube or cocoon, which resists the 
entrance of water. In New Jersey the 
adults are found in May; in Massachusetts 
they do not fly until July. The change to 
the pupa takes place in the tube or cocoon 
made in the previous fall, and on Cape 
Cod at the latter part of May or in early 
June. The adult is a pretty little creature, 
with forewings expanding about three- 
fifths of an inch, and is one of the long- 
snouted moths, the palpi or mouth feelers 
projecting well beyond the head. The 
forewings are rather narrow and very 
pale straw-yellow in color. The hind- 
wings are much broader and of a uniform 
silvery gray. When the moth is at rest 
the wings are so closely wrappzd around 
the body that it looks like a uarrow whit- 
ish cylinder about three-quarters of an 
inch in length 
The young worm is very active and 
strong, and at once begins the construc- 
tion of the silken tube, re-enforced by 
bits of vegetation, in which it lives. It 
works about the running portion of the 
plants extending along the surface of the 
sand in the stratum of fallen leaves which 
always cover an old cranberry bog and 
from which the delicate clusters of new 
rootlets take their rise. Everywhere over 
an infested area, but especially along its 
borders, these worms can be found in 
filmy silken galleries following the pros- 
trate stems of runners, into the surface 
of which they eat their way, destroying 
the vital part of the plant and, especially 
next to the base of the runners, deeply 
girdling the stem. They grow rather 
slowly, and not until November do they 
make their coarse cocoon of mingled sand 
and silk that serves as winter quarters. 
An infested bog is rarely affected over 
its entire extent. Small areas varying 
from a few feet in diameter to half an 
acre or more are found here and there, 
and sometimes a little patch only a foot 
or two across will remain for two or three 
years in succession without becoming en- 
larged, but rather it will become closed 
2—13 
849 
up by runners from the adjacent healthy 
vines. 
Remedial Measures 
It is quite obvious that insecticides are 
not available here, because of the con- 
cealed feeding habit, and that resort must 
be had to more direct methods. But the 
insect does not make this cocoon until 
November, and a submergence of five days 
immediately after the picking is com- 
pleted destroys a great many. The sug- 
gestion is therefore made that, imme- 
diately after the fruit is off, infested bogs 
be flowed and be Kept covered for at least 
a week, and better two weeks. While the 
ripening fruit is on, any water covering 
kept on over 24 hours would be apt to 
do material injury. 
An additional suggestion is that the 
actually infested area be completely 
burned off as soon as its extent can be de- 
termined. For this burning a gasoline 
torch may be employed, and the heat thus 
applied directly to the point where it will 
be most effective. The burned-over area 
can be immediately reset and the actual 
amount of injury limited to a minimum. 
Cranberry Katydid 
Scudderia texensis Sauss. 
One of the most destructive insects on 
the New Jersey bogs is a species of katy- 
did, though its injuries, as a rule are 
charged to grasshoppers in general. 
The injury is chiefly caused by the feed- 
ing habits of the adult of one species of 
katydid which chews into the berries 
when half to full grown, rejects the pulp, 
and eats the seeds. The injured berries 
wilt, shrivel, and die; but when they have 
just been left by the katydids, the com- 
mon, shorthorned grasshoppers feed on 
the exposed pulp and, being detected in 
this, are quite generally charged with hav- 
ing caused the entire trouble. One katy- 
did may eat out several berries at one 
sitting, and when the insects are at ali 
abundant the percentage of fruit de- 
stroyed is very large; on some bogs the 
amount reaches almost or quite one-half 
the entire crop. 
The katydids when mature are green, 
grasshopper-like insects, with very long 
