202 TRANSACTIONS OF THE ILLINOIS 



value. If the infested fruit could be gathered and destroyed, this would 

 probably afford the most effectual remedy, unless it can be ascertained 

 that some varieties are not subject to their attacks. 



Spec. Char. Imago. — Snout long, nearly equal in length to the body, slender and 

 cylindrical, and apparently slightly striate above; antenna;, which are elbowed and 

 clubbed at the end as usual, are inserted in front of the middle of the snout. Thorax 

 narrowed in front, widest behind, slightly expanding in the middle, narrower behind 

 than the elytra. General color a dull rust color varied with whitish. Three indistinct 

 longitudinal whitish lines on the thorax, one median and one on each side. Elytra Avith 

 double series of punctures, the interstitial lines alternately elevated, the two inner ones 

 on each wing-case have on them two or three compressed elevations or tubercle^, of 

 which the posterior one on the inner line is generally the most prominent, but the speci- 

 men now before me has the one next the last the largest ; the posterior depressed portion, 

 paler than the rest. The anterior thighs two-toothed, the posterior tooth prominent. 

 Length of body about one-eighth to one-sixth of an inch. 



Anthonomus prunicida, Walsh. The Plum-gouger. 



This may be distinguished from other weevils by its ochre yellow legs 

 and thorax, its brown wing-cases, which have a dull grayish tint and 

 are without tubercles. The snout is not much longer than the thorax ; 

 the length, exclusive of the snout, . 



Mr. Walsh, who first described this species, has given in his first report 

 a very full account of its habits, of which I give the following summary : 



It appears to be a western species, very generally distributed through- 

 out the Mississippi Valley, and although found in considerable numbers 

 at certain points is much less injurious than the plum-curculio, for which 

 it is often mistaken. 



The perfect insects make their appearance about the same time as the 

 plum-curculio, but continue to deposit eggs only while the stone, which 

 they puncture, is soft and tender, hence the time for depositing is much 

 more limited with this species than with the other. The mode in which 

 this is performed by the plum-gouger differs very materially from that 

 adopted by the curculio, and enables us at once to distinguish the punc- 

 ture of one species from that of the other. 



Instead of forming a crescent slit, the female eats through the skin, 

 forming a cylindrical hole the size of her snout ; this she enlarges at the 

 bottom in the same manner as the previous species. 



Having deposited an egg, she thrusts it with her snout into the orifice 

 below the surface of the skin, but not to the bottom. As soon as the 

 larva is hatched it penetrates to the stone, the shell of which is yet soft, 

 through which it bores to the kernel, where it remains until it is full grown. 

 It is now about one-eighth of an inch long, curved in the usual semi- 

 circular form, of a milk white color, without the glossy lustre, or rust red 

 stomach of the curculio larva ; the head yellowish white, mandibles tipped 

 with brown. 



Having completed its growth, it cuts a round hole through the stone, 

 which by this time has become hard, and then returns to the inside, where 

 it undergoes its transformations into the beetle state, after which it escapes 

 through the opening made for its exit. 



