All wormy fruit should be gathered as soon as it falls from the trees, and either be boiled, or at once fed to swine. Hogs and sheep, kept in the orchard, will generally consume the fruit as fast as they fall to the ground; and this is the simplest and cheapest method of destroying the worms.
Chætochilus pometellus, (Harris), is commonly called the Palmer-worm. It feeds upon the leaves of our orchard and forest trees in June. Sometimes it appears in immense numbers, and, coming after the period for the production of new leaves, great damage is done to the trees; old trees, and limbs of younger ones, are sometimes killed. There have been two celebrated invasions of this insect in the Eastern States, those of 1791 and of 1853.[42]
GRAPE VINE FEEDERS.
Grape vines are subject to the attacks of many lepidopterous insects. Dr. Harris gives the history of seven American larvæ, mostly of large moths, which feed upon grape leaves.
Pterophorus periscelidactylus, or the Gartered Grape vine Plume, is a pale green worm, half an inch long, which hides itself in a hollow ball of leaves, fastened together with silken threads. It is described at length by Dr. Fitch, in the New York Agricultural Transactions.
Ohis myron, (Chærocampa pampinatrix, of Harris), called also the Vine Dresser, is somewhat troublesome in the vineyards, as it eats the leaves, and cuts off the bunches of grapes when half grown. This worm is thick, cylindrical, tapering anteriorly, pale green, freckled with pale yellow dots, and, when mature, a pale dusky olive; 2.25 inches long. The pupa is found under leaves on the ground; the moth emerges in June.
Philampelus satellita, and P. Achemon, the Satellite and Achemon Sphinges, are large green worms that feed upon the vine. They bury themselves in the ground when going into the pupa state, and remain until the next July. The worms are seen in August and September.
Procris Americana, or the American Forrester, is found feeding upon the grape leaves at mid-summer, (June 22). The worms feed gregariously on the surface of a leaf, some twenty side by side, leaving only a skeleton behind them when small, and consuming the leaf when older. They are small, 0.60 inch long; yellowish. The moth is blue-black, with a bright orange neck.
Alypia 8-maculata, or the Eight-spotted Forrester, is a light blue worm, 1.25 inches in length. They leave the vines in July, and spin a web on the ground; the moth appears in May; it is black, with orange shanks; each of the fore-wings has two large, light yellow spots; the hind-wings have two white ones. Width 1, to 1.50 inch.
ÆGERIANS.