298 Wisconsin State Horticultural Society. 



season, and often do much damage to the mature fruit, causing it 

 to rot by their stings. When the fruit is gone, they will feed on 

 leaves and tender twigs. 



The female deposits her eggs one at a time, at the rate of from 

 five to ten a day and to the number of from fifty to one hundred 

 each. Generally but one egg is laid in a single plum or apple, 

 but when fruit is scarce and Curculio are plenty, a number are 

 often seen in the same fruit. In laying the egg, the female makes 

 an incision with her jaws, enlarges and deepens it with her snout, 

 deposits the egg at the mouth of the incision, and crowds it to the 

 bottom of the hole with her snout, and then cuts the familiar 

 cresaent mark. The egg is oval in form, and of a pearly white 

 color. In a few days it hatches out and eats its way into the 

 fruit. Its growth is rapid, reaching maturity in two or three 

 weeks. When full grown it is about half an inch in length. The 

 grub by feeding checks the growth of the fruit and causes it to 

 drop from the tree. Soon after the fruit falls the worm digs its 

 way out, and burrowing in the ground, goes into the chrysalis state, 

 where it remains for three or four weeks, when it emerges in the 

 form of a perfect beetle. 



In the selection of its winter quarters, the beetle seems to pre- 

 fer the shelter of trees or timber, for they are seen in much larger, 

 numbers in orchards standing near timber land and in the trees in 

 the outside rows of the orchards, but they take shelter in the 

 fences and under bark, boards, shingles or any rubbish on the 

 surface of the ground in the open field or garden. They have 

 been found under the rough bark on the trees, and under shingles 

 on buildings. They are very hardy and are little affected by cold. 

 If their place of shelter is exposed to the early warmth of spring, 

 they make their appearance earlier in the season ; in fact very 

 many of them come out, often two or three weeks in advance of 

 the time when the fruit sets or is large enough to be injured, and 

 may be destroyed before they can do any harm. They are noc- 

 turnal in their habits, and, except when the female is depositing 

 her eggs, they remain concealed during the day and feed at 

 night. In the early part of the season, and during cool weather, 

 they prefer shelter during the day on the ground, and may be 



