Page:The Olive Its Culture in Theory and Practice.djvu/141

Rh inch. The cocoon which envelops the pupa is composed of silky filaments so finely woven as to be transparent.

The moth (Fig. 10, 10-1, 10 a, 10 b,) has a rounded head covered with narrow scales. Antennæ wiry, with globular joints. Upper edge of upper wings fringed with soft hair, lower edge bare. Lower wings shorter than upper, and fringed all around with hair which is longer on the upper than on the lower edge. Half way the length of the posterior tibia, are two long spurs. Body, antennæ and feet, covered with ashy gray scales. Upper wings a whitish ash color, with a silvery gloss, with a disk-shaped black spot midway the wing, near the lower edge, and another less marked near lower outside corner. The remainder of the wing is dotted with very minute black specks, irregularly placed. The lower wings of a uniform dark ash color. Length, a quarter of an inch, with the wings folded, nearly half an inch with the wings spread. The foregoing is a description of the moth in its tpyicaltypical [sic] condition and in a state of perfect preservation. The upper wings sometimes vary in the number and size of the spots.

There are three generations of the moth.

First: The winter generation, which draw their nourishment from the leaves and tender buds.

Second: The spring generation, which devours the germ of the blossom even before it opens.

Third: The summer generation, which attacks only the kernel of the seed.

In February the eggs of the first generation are seen on the under part of the leaf (Fig. 1 a a,), In the last days of that month the larva hatches and commences to consume the foliage (Fig. 1 b,) making galleries under the epidermis of the leaf which takes the color of the dry leaf and becomes transparent. Later on, this gallery is burst by the young grub, which continues to prey upon the leaves. (Fig. 1 c,) enveloping itself in silken threads, as a screen against external agents. Some larvæ consume the entire web of the leaf