Relation of Composition to the Efficiency of Foliage or Summer Type Petroleum Fractions1, 2, 3

Abstract
Petroleum fractions of the so-called summer-type spray oils were tested to determine their efficiency in killing eggs of the oriental fruit moth, the codling moth, and the eye-spotted but moth Spilonota ocellana. Efficiency was found to be related to the chem. composition of the oils. Thus, the oil most predominately paraffinic was 6 times as efficient as some oils of the naphthenic type. Contrary to common belief, highly refined or white oils were more efficient than the corresponding less refined products; i.e., efficiency was increased with the removal of the aromatic constituents. The 3 spp. of insects studied showed no significant difference in their response to the oils tested.