376 Bulletin 148. 



his trees, while liis neiglibor only a few miles av.ay may never have 

 occasion to dig the *' grubs " out of In's trees. 



However, most of the complaint we get from quince growers in 

 regard to insect pests comes in the form of (jueries about "wormy" 

 and "knotty " fruits. Nearly all of those who grow quinces are only 

 too familiar with such "knotty" fruits as are shown in figure 186. 

 Most "wormy" quinces have been the home of the grubs of the 

 quince curculio, and we believe that most of the " knottiness" of the 

 fruits is caused by the same insect. We have examined dozens of 

 quinces like those figured, without finding a single worm, so that often 

 the fruits may be " knotty " and not "' wormy." The probable explana- 

 tion of how the "knots" are produced is given in the discussion of 

 the feeding habits of the curculios. 



During the past few years this quince curculio has caused a greater 

 monetary loss to some of the larger quince growers in western New 

 York than all the other insect foes and the fungous diseases of the 

 quince combined. In i89''», 95 per cent, of the fruits in one large 

 orchard at Lockport, N. Y., were badly injured, and a very extensive 

 grower at Geneva, N. Y., became so discouraged in trying to check 

 the pest as to seriously contemplate uprooting his whole orchard. 

 However, both of these orchardists are now fighting this insect so 

 successfully that last year they harvested one of the finest crops of 

 fruit the trees ever bore, and this in spite of the fact that in some 

 cases hundreds of the curculios appeared on a single tree during the 

 season; in one instance last year over 200 of the beetles were collected 

 from only seven trees one morning in August. In our discussion of 

 the methods of fighting this pest, we have drawn largely from the 

 practical experience of these successful growers. 



i Its History, Distribution and Food. 



t 

 I 



This insect, which is so serious a menace to successful quince 

 culture in New York, is a native of this country, and its natural food 

 is the fruits of the common wild hawthorn. As early as 1837 one of 

 the beetles had found its way into the celebrated collection of Dejean 

 in Paris, France; but nothing more seems to have been heard of the 

 insect for a quarter of a century. In 1863, it was discovered by 

 Walsh, in Illinois, where it then " swarmed " on the hawthorn. It 



