Debbie Bryson, age 12, of Whittler, North Carolina, for her question:

How do worms get into apples?

The wretched creature is an insect larva and usually there is a small spot on the apple skin, which shows how he got inside. Apples are the favorite food of several quite different insects. The female lays her eggs on, in or near the apple, depending upon her species. When the larvae hatch, they eat their way inside, leaving dirty brown tunnels. The pinkish white grub of the codling moth usually makes for the core. The pasty white, legless grub of the apple maggot often devours the fleshy meat, creating large rotten brawn patches inside the apple.

The female codling moth is a smallish, grey striped insect. Usually she lays her eggs on the leaves and the grubs crawl to the young fruit. The apple maggot, alias the railroad worm, looks like a house fly. She deposits her eggs in the apple's skin. Sometimes two or more maggoty species are found inside the same apple.