364 
JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGY 
[Vol. 13 
SOME RESULTS WITH NICOTINE AND NICOTINE COMBINA¬ 
TIONS IN EXPERIMENTS ON THE CONTROL OF 
LASPEYRESIA MOLESTA BUSCK 1 
By Louis A. Stearns, Associate Entomologist, Virginia State Crop Pest Commission 
Judging from the published results of limited experimental work of 
both field and laboratory character, uncertain success has accompanied 
endeavors to control the oriental fruit moth as a pest of peaches. It 
would seem that the vulnerable point in the life-history of the insect, as 
well as the insecticide most effective in combating it, are yet to be 
determined. The writer, in common with others engaged in a close 
study of the moth, discovered, early, that applications of arsenical 
sprays to the fruit, foliage and twigs of infested peach trees, although of 
some occasional benefit to the sprayed trees, in most instances were 
apparently of negligible value, since the larvae feed largely within the 
twigs and fruit. At first, it appeared, also, that applications of 40 per 
cent nicotine sulphate, either alone as an ovicide or in combination 
with an arsenical near hatching time, failed to materially control the 
insect. 
However, it has been encouraging to note that in the young, well- 
cared-for commercial orchards of extreme northern Virginia the moth 
was absent. The Virginia infestation is primarily an area of small and 
scattered home-garden plantings. Commonly one third of the twigs 
of such trees are tunneled out and killed by the larvae of this peach pest, 
and an equally high percentage of the fruit is usually “ wormy.” 
Although the few commercial plantings, cultivated, pruned and sprayed 
in conformity with the best orchard practices, are in close proximity to 
these heavy infestations, the moth has been unable, apparently, to 
establish itself. 
In view of the seeming discrepancy between experimentation and 
local field observations, experiments were conducted in 1919 with the 
intent of ascertaining accurately the toxic value of several insecticides, 
both alone and in combination, in detailed laboratory tests with indi¬ 
vidual eggs and just-hatched larvae of the moth, and in limited field 
tests with single infested peach trees. 
The results of the previous season’s investigation, which had pointed 
to the likelihood of controlling the moth most successfully in its egg 
stage, had emphasized also, in view of the egg-laying habits of the insect 
(deposition on under surface of leaves), the necessity of increasing the 
spreading and sticking possibilities of whatever insecticides employed, 
1 The investigation of which these results are a part is discussed in detail in the 
Quarterly Bulletin, Virginia State Crop Pest Commission, April, 1920. 
