The Quince Curculio. 379 



less deeply striated than in the male. This peculiar situation of the 

 eating apparatus renders the snout a very useful instrument for the 

 quince curculio, but at the same time increases its destructive power. 

 'Hic^^e points are discussed in detail in our story of the life and habits 

 of the pest. 



The grub or larva. — This stage of the insect is well shown, natural 

 size and much enlarged, in figure 189. 



It is a fleshy, maggot-hke, footless grub of a semi-transparent, light 

 flesh color. Its head is dark brown, with the horny jaws darker, and 

 there is a lighter brown, shield- like area on the back of the first 

 thoracic segment. The main trachea running along each side of the 

 body shows quite distinctly through the skin (see the figure), and the 

 pulsations of the "heart" can also be seen along the back. The 

 spiracles are light brown in color, and the body bears a few brownish 

 hairs. 



This grub can be readily distinguished from the caterpillar of the 

 codling-moth which also infests the quince, as the latter always has 

 distinct legs. 



Its Name. 



This quince pest belongs to the largest and most important of the 

 families — the Curailiojtidce, or popularly, ciircuUos or weevils — of the 

 snout-beetles, of which more than a thousand different kinds are already 

 known to occur in North America. This great family of curculios 

 includes several of our most destructive insects, such as the acorn and 

 nut-weevils, the well-known plum curculio, the strawberry weevil, and 

 that recent importation from Mexico, the cotton-boll weevil. 



When Walsh discovered and described the snout-beetle under dis- 

 cussion in 1863, he gave to it the scientific name, Conotrac/ielus 

 ci-atcEgi, by which it is still known.* The first or generic part of the 

 name is .said to signify " conical thorax or throat," and eratcBgi, the 

 specific name, was suggested by the fact that the insect was first 

 found "swarming " on the common thorn, Cratcegus. 



*The insect was given the specific name of humeralis in Europe in 1837, 

 but as no description accompanied this name, it cannot take the place of 

 Walsh's name proposed twent3"-six 3'ears later ; a Brazilian species of the 

 same genus now bears the name of humeralis. 



