MICHIGAN STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 311 



IT IS NOCTURNAL RATHER THAN DIURNAL, 



Before leaving this little Turk, howerer, I have some other 

 facts to mention which were first brought to light the present 

 year, and which have a most important practical bearing. You 

 have been repeatedly told, and you no doubt have all come to 

 believe it, that Curculios fly only during the heat of the day, 

 and that it is useless to endeavor to catch them after, say, ten 

 o'clock in the morning. Well, gentlemen, what I am about to- 

 utter will no doubt astonish you, but I know Avhereof I speak. 

 The CurcuUo is a noclurnal rather than a diurnal insect ; is 

 far more active at night than at dnii, and flies readily at night, 

 into the bargain. If any one doubts this assertion, let him go 

 into his peach or plum orchard ac midaigb.r, -.vi-h a lantera 

 and sheet, and he will catch more than he could during the 

 day, and will also find, to his sorrow, that they are then much 

 more nimble and much bolder, — scarcely feigning death at all. 

 Indeed, with the exception of such females as are busily occu- 

 pied in depositing eggs, most of the Curculios rest during the 

 day, sheltered either by the foliage or branches of the tree, cr 

 by any extraneous substance on the ground near by. They 

 are also more active in the evening than in the morning, and 

 these facts lead us to the important question, whether the 

 morning or the evening is the best time to jar the trees. My 

 experiments so far are not conclusive, for I have some days 

 caught more in the morning, and at other times more in the 

 evening. All other things being equal, the evening will prove- 

 preferable to the morning, from there being less dew at that 

 time ; and I particularly draw your attention to this matter 

 now, that you may institute the proper experiments during 

 the coming year. 



THE RANSOM CHIP-TRAP PROCESS. 



Another grand and successful mode of fighting the little 

 Turk was also brought to light again, and to a great extent 

 practiced the past summer. I allude to the Ransom chip-pro- 

 cess for entrapping this insect. About the middle of May the 



