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Apple-leaf Skeletonizer
The larva of this little moth feeds upon the parenchyma, or soft green pulpy covering of the leaves, of the apple and allied trees, leaving the framework of veins and veinlets untouched. Sometimes it devours all of the upper surface of the leaf and completely skeletonizes it; more frequently it only eats portions here and there. In the fall of the year orchards are often made to appear quite sear and blighted by the inroads of the minute larvae, which are gregarious and are at times found literally in millions upon the trees.
The insect has an extensive range, and is found from New England and Ontario southward through the valleys of the Ohio and the Mississippi as far as northern Texas.
By weakening the trees the larvae cause the fruit to fall prematurely, and not a little damage is thus caused to the crop. It has been recommended to treat trees which are infested by the insect to a dust-bath made of air-slaked lime. It is said that this has the effect of destroying the larvae. A better method of procedure is to give the trees a spraying with a very weak solution of one or the other of the coal-oil emulsions which are in use as disinfectants in orchards.