Insects injurious to fruits . ies thedestruction of these caterpillars, as their nests are so conspic-uous that there can be no excuse for neglecting to destroythem, and it is unfair that a careful and vigilant fruit-growershould be compelled to suffer from year to year from theneglect of a careless or indolent neighbor. Neglected treesare soon stripped of their leaves, and become prematurelyexhausted by having to reproduce at an unseasonable timetheir lost foliage; with fruit-trees this is so great a tax ontlieir vital powers that they usually bear little or no fruit thefollowing season. The
Insects injurious to fruits . ies thedestruction of these caterpillars, as their nests are so conspic-uous that there can be no excuse for neglecting to destroythem, and it is unfair that a careful and vigilant fruit-growershould be compelled to suffer from year to year from theneglect of a careless or indolent neighbor. Neglected treesare soon stripped of their leaves, and become prematurelyexhausted by having to reproduce at an unseasonable timetheir lost foliage; with fruit-trees this is so great a tax ontlieir vital powers that they usually bear little or no fruit thefollowing season. The egg-clusters may be sought for anddestroyed during the winter months, when, the trees beingleafless, a practised eye will readily detect them. A cloudyday should be selected for this purpose, to avoid the incon-venience of too much glare from the sky. Several parasites attack this insect. A minute Ichneumonfly, about one-twenty-fifth of an inch in length, is parasitic onthe eggs. By means of a long ovipositor it bores through. 52 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO THE APPLE. the outer gummy coveriag and egg-shell, and deposits its eggawithin the egg of the tent-caterpillar, where the young larvaeof the parasite hatch and feed upon the contents of the egg-shell of our enemy. A small mite, very similar to that shownin Fig. 31, is also very destructive to these eggs, eating intothem and feeding on their occupants. Two larger Ichneumonflies prey upon the caterpillar, Pimplaconquisitor (Say) (Fig. 42) and Ichneu-mon leetus Brulle, as well as one or morespecies of Tachina flies, two-winged in-sects a little larger than the commonhouse-fly, similar to Fig. 46. All theselatter parasites watch their opportunitywhen the growing caterpillar is feeding,and deposit their eggs on or under theskin of their victim, which shortly hatch, when the larvaiburrow into the bodies of the tent-caterpillars and feed onthem, carefully avoiding the destruction of the vital infested caterpillars usually reach
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