MICHIGAN STATE TOMOLOaiCAL SOCIETY. 313 



"How TO Catcu Curculto. — 111 May last we had occasion to use 

 some lumber. It was laid down in the vicinity of the plum-yard, and 

 on taking up a piece of it one cold morning, we discovered a number of 

 Carculios huddled together on the under side. On examining other 

 boards, we found more ; so we spread it out to see if we could catch 

 more, and we continued to find more or less every day, for two weeks. 

 We caught in all one hundred and sixty-one. So I think if people 

 would take a little pains they might destroy a great many such pests. 

 These were caught before the plum trees were in flower. What is most 

 singular is, that we never found a Curculio on a piece of old lumber, 

 although we put several pieces down to try them. They seemed to come 

 out of the ground, as we could find them several times a day by turning 

 over the boards. 



" JOHNSOKVILLE, N. Y. " MrS. II. WiER." 



" But though Mr. Ransom caunot properly claim to have 

 made a new discovery, and though this mode of fighting will 

 not prove sufficient to exterminate the Curculio, yet we 

 greatly admire the earnestness and perseverance which he has 

 exhibited. In demonstrating that so great a number of the 

 little pests can be entrapped in the manner described, Mr. R, 

 b;is laid the fruit- fro vrers of the country under lasting obliga- 

 tions to him. It is a grand movement towards the defeat of 

 the foe, and one which, from its simplicity, should be univer- 

 sally adopted early in the season. But we must not relinquisJi 

 the other methods of jarring during the summer, and of 

 destroying the fallen fruit ; for we repeat that the Plum 

 Curculio will breed in the forest. 



" I subsequently visited St. Joseph for the express jjurpose 

 of examining more closely into Mr. Ransom's Curculio remedy. 

 I found that so few Curculios had been caught under the chips 

 after the first week in June, that nearly everybody, except Mr. 

 Ransom, had for some time abandoned the method and were 

 jarring their trees by one process or another. 



" Mr. Ransom himself, by dint of unusual perseverance and 



great care in setting his traps, has had much better success 



than I had expected he would. On the 15th of June he caught 



78; on the 16th, 97, and on the 17th, 71. For about a week 



50 



