168 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



weevil," '^'little Turk," "curculio," etc. The name here used, however, is 

 perhaps best fixed in literature on economic entomology and has been 

 adopted for this species by the American Association of Economic En- 

 tomologists. 



The plum curculio is a native American insect and feeds originally, as 

 it feeds at the present time, on wild plums and other Avild fruits', especi- 

 ally Crataegus. Its injuries were iK)ted as long ago as 173G, and it was 

 the subject of an extended article published in 1804. Our early horti- 

 cultural literature abounds Avith references to its depredations, especi- 

 ally to plums, which were apparently grown with the greatest difficulty. 



So far as is known, the plum curculio is' still confined to North 

 America, ranging from southern Canada south to Florida and Texas 

 and west to about the one hundredth meridian. It appears to be re- 

 stricted in its westward spread by the more arid climate of the Great 

 Plains region. It is probably present throughout its entire area of dis- 

 tribution, but is especially abundant in the Central and Southern 

 States. 



FOOD PLANTS AND CHARACTER OF INJURY. 



Practically all stone and pome fruits, such as peaches, plums, apri- 

 cots, nectarines, cherries, apples, pears, etc., areused by the curculio 

 for feeding and egg-laying purposes. Injury is done by both the adult 

 and larva. The former punctures the fruit in feeding and in egg lay- 

 ing, and the grubs live within the fruit and spoil it for market or other 

 purposes. The character and extent of injury vary with different fruits, 

 and while the present paper deals with the insect as an enemy of the 

 peach the statements here made are fairly applicable to other stone fruits, 

 such as plums, cherries, apricots, and nectarines. 



Most of the peaches punctured while small soon fall from the effect of 

 the injury or on account of the presence of the developing grubs. After 

 a peach is of some size, about one-third grown, most of the larvse appar- 

 ently are unable to develop successfully in it, owing to its vigorous 

 growth. There is a considerable period, therefore, when the curculio is 

 able to inflict but little damage to vigorous-gTowing peaches, though the 

 fruit may be more or less scarred by the feeding and egg punctures, from 

 which gum may exude, especially during the moist weather (figs. 4 and 5). 

 As stated elsewhere, these punctures and the exudation of gum greatly 

 favor the bro\\Ti-rot, forming a nidus for spoi'es of the fungus and fur- 

 nishing an easy point of infection. After the period of rapid growth of 

 l^eaches has passed and the ripening process has begun, the curculio larva 

 is able to develop readily in the fruit and, as the beetles are still oviposit- 

 ing when early and midsummer varieties are ripening, wormy ri])e peaches 

 are often to be noted at picking time. The loss caused by wormmess of 

 fruit, while often quite important, is perhaps less so than that 

 resulting from the "stings" which deform and scar the fruit. Wormy 

 fruit and that which is scarred to any extent ripen prematurely, as a 

 rule, and in untreated orchards may constitute a considerable proportion 

 of the crop. 



LIFE HISTORY AND HABITS. 



How the curculio passes the imnter. — The curculio passes the winter in 

 the adult or beetle stage under trash in orchards, along fences, terraces, 



