STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. II9 



broadened at the bottom, or gouged out in the shape of a gourd ; and 

 especially is this the case with those intended by the female for the 

 reception of an egg. The egg., in this case also, enlarges from endos- 

 mosis, and it is probable that all weevils that make a puncture for the 

 reception of their eggs, gnaw and enlargp the bottom, not only to give 

 the egg room to swell, but to deaden the surrounding fruit, and prevent 

 its crushing such egg — the same object being attained by the deadened 

 flap made by the crescent of the little Turk. Wherever this insect 

 abounds, plums will be found covered with its holes, the great majority 

 of them, however, made for feeding purposes. The gum exudes from 

 each puncture, and the fruit either drops or becomes knotty and worth- 

 less. 



The young larva which hatches from the egg, instead of rioting in 

 the flesh of the plum, or remaining around the outside of the kernel, 

 makes an almost straight course for that kernel, through the yet soft 

 shell of which it penetrates. Here it remains until it has become full- 

 fed, when by a wise instinct it cuts a round hole through the now 

 hard stone, and retires inside again to change to the pupa and finally 

 to the beetle state. When once the several parts of the beetle are sufli- 

 ciently hard and strong, it ventures through the hole which it had already 

 providently prepared for exit with its stronger larval jaws, and then 

 easily bores its way through the flesh and escapes. 



REMEDIES. 



This Plum Gouger is about as hard to deal with as the Apple Cur- 

 culio. It drops almost as reluctantly and we therefore can not do much 

 by the jarring process to diminish its numbers. Moreover it takes wing 

 much more readily than the other wee\'ils we have mentioned; and 

 though fruit that is badly punctured for food, often falls prematurely to 

 the gi'ound, yet, according to Mr. Walsh, that infested with the larva 

 generallv hangs on the tree until the stone is hard and premature ripen- 

 ing sets in. In all probability the stunted and prematurely ripened fruit 

 containing this insect will jar down much more readily than the healthy 

 fruit, but I have so far had no opportunity of making any practical 

 observations myself, and must conclude by hoping that our plum- 

 growing members will make the proper experiments and give us the 

 results. 



THE STRA WBERRT CROWN BORER. 



{Analcis fragariie N. sp.) 



This is another indigenous insect, which seems to be confined to our 

 Mississippi Valley, for I have heard no complaints in any of the Atlantic 

 States, of injuries that could be attributed to this weevil. In the Maine 

 Partner for July 25th, 1867, we find a brief reference, made by Mr. 

 G. E. Brackett of Belfast, Me., in answer to a certain "E. B.," of a 

 " worm that eats into the crown of the plant and kills it." The worm 

 referred to was, in all probability, the Crown Borer under consideration, 

 but as no post-oflice address of the questioner is given, the paragraph 

 might just as well never have been written, for any light that it tlirows 



