INSECTS OF THE HOUSE AND STOREHOUSE 



565 



early fruits. The larva lives below ground and feeds upon the 

 roots of plants. 



Insects which harm fruit and forest trees. Great damage is 

 done to trees by the larvae of moths. Massachusetts has already 

 spent more than $5,000,000 in 

 trying to exterminate the acci- 

 dentally imported gypsy moth. 

 The codling moth, which bores 

 into apples and pears, is esti- 

 mated to ruin yearly 83,000,000 

 worth of fruit in New York 

 alone, which is only one of the 

 important apple regions of the 

 United States. Probably one 

 of the worst insect pests to the 

 dweller in a large city is the 

 tussock moth, which destroys 

 our shade trees. The caterpillar 

 may easily be recognized by its 

 hairy, tufted body and red 

 head. The eggs are laid in what look like masses of foam on the 

 outside of the cocoon attached to the bark of a shade tree. By 

 collecting and burning the egg masses in the autumn, we may 

 save many shade trees the following year. 



The larvae of some moths damage trees by boring into the wood 

 of the tree on which they live. Such are the peach, apple, and 

 other fruit-tree borers common in our orchards. Some kinds of 

 beetles produce boring larvae which eat their way into trees and 

 kill thousands of forest and shade trees annually. The hickory 

 borer threatens to kill all the hickory trees in the eastern states. 



Among the bugs most destructive to trees are the scale insect 

 and the plant lice. The San Jose scale, a native of China, was 

 introduced into the fruit groves of California in 1868 and has 

 since spread all over the country. 



Insects of the house and storehouse. Weevils are the greatest 

 pests of stored grains, frequently ruining tons of corn, wheat, and 

 other cereals. Cockroaches will eat almost any kind of foodstuffs. 

 h. bio — 37 



The tussock moth is one of the most destruc- 

 tive of all insects to our shade trees. 



