The Quince Curculio. 381 



As some of the grubs go into the soil in August, and the beetles 

 which develop from them may not appear above ground before the 

 middle of the next July, a quince curculio may spend eleven months 

 of its life in the soil in the orchard. However, some of the grubs do 

 not leave the fruit until much later in the fall, and in some years the 

 spring climatic conditions are such as to hasten the development of 

 the insect, so that the beetles sometimes appear as early as the latter 

 part of May ; thus only about seven months of its life may be spent in 

 the ground. 



In all our experience in rearing and observing insects, we never 

 before met with one whose habits were so remarkably affected as 

 were the quince curculio's by what was apparently simple variations 

 in the climatic conditions in early spring. In 1896, the beetles 

 appeared in full force on the quince trees at Geneva, N. Y., during the 

 last week in May, when the quinces had reached the stage shown in 

 figure 191. In April, 1897, Mr. R. A. Barnes, of Lockport, N. Y., 

 kindly furnished us with many of the grubs undisturbed in their winter 

 homes. Some of these were kept on our office table, but most of 

 them were placed in another part of the insectary where they would 

 be subject to out-door or more natural conditions. Those in our 

 office developed into the beetles about June i, or practically on the 

 schedule time of the preceding year in the orchards. But the grubs, 

 kept under natural conditions, did not change to pupae until the last 

 week in June, and none of the curculios emerged in our cages until 

 nearly a month later. Thinking that these results must be abnormal, 

 due, perhaps, to some unknown and unnatural conditions in our cages, 

 we at once wrote to Geneva and Lockport, asking that jarring experi- 

 ments be made on a few trees to ascertain if the curculios were present 

 in any numbers. Reports soon came from both places that the beetles 

 were then out in full force ; the quinces had then attained the size 

 shown in figure 192. At Geneva, they began jarring the trees in the 

 latter part of May, or at the same time they caught the curculios the 

 previous year, but soon stopped, as practically none were found, and 

 the jarring machines were laid aside with the belief that the pest 

 would not need to be fought in 1897. It was very gratifying to have 

 our breeding experiments thus verified in the field; and the fact that 

 the information thus gained enabled some of our largest quince 

 growers to destroy hundreds of the curcuhos, which would otherwise 



