INDIRECT INJURIES CAUSED BY INSECTS. 



167 



history of a species of moth common in this country ( Carpo- 

 capsa pomonella)^ the caterpillar of which feeds in the centre 

 of our apples, thus occasioning them to fall ; as does also the 

 larva of one of the saw-flies ( Tenthredo testudinea), as observed 

 by Mr. Westwood, and the first instance known of one of 

 this tribe feeding in the interior of fruits.^ 



Our more dainty and delicate fruits, at least such as are 

 usually so accounted, the apricot, the peach, and the nectarine, 

 originally of Asiatic origin, are not less subject to the empire 

 of insects than the homelier natives of Europe. Certain Aphides 

 form a convenient and sheltered habitation for themselves, by 

 causing portions of the leaves to rise into hollow red con- 

 vexities ; in these they reside, and, with their rostrum pumping 

 out the sap, in time occasion them to curl up, and thus de- 

 form the tree and injure the produce. The fruit is attacked 

 by various other enemies of this class, against which we find 

 it not easy to secure it : wasps, earwigs, flies, wood-lice, and 

 ants, which last communicate to it a disagreeable flavour, all 

 share with us these ambrosial treasures ; the first of them as 

 it were opening the door, by making an incision in the rind, 

 and letting in all the rest. The nucleus of the apricot is 

 also sometimes inhabited by the caterpillar of a moth, which 

 feeding on the kernel causes the fruit to fall prematurely.^ 

 And much injury is done to this tree by the larva of a little 

 moth {Ditula angustiorana), by devouring the young blossom- 

 buds and tying the young shoots together with its silken 

 thread, so as to stop their growth.'^ In this country, however, 

 these fruits may be regarded as mere luxuries, and there- 

 fore are of slight consequence ; but in North America they 

 constitute an important part of the general produce, at least 

 the peach, serving both as food for swine, and furnishing by 

 distillation a spirit. The ravages committed upon them there 

 by insects are so serious, that premiums have been oflered for 

 extirpating them. A species of weevil, perhaps a Rhynchites, 

 enters the fruit when unripe, probably laying its eggs within 

 the stone, and so destroys them. And two kinds of Zygcenay 



1 Trans. Ent. Soc. Lond. iii. proc. xxxii. - 



2 M. de la Hire in Reaum. ii. 478. 



3 V/estwood in Loudon's Gardener's Mag, No. 94. Jan. 1838. 



M 4 



