74 THE REPORT OF THE No. 36 



It can be easily distinguished from the Plum Curculio by its snout, which 

 is as long as the rest of its body, and is carried straight in front. It has, also, 

 four humps on the sloping portion of its elytra. It is light-reddish-brown to 

 dark-reddish-brown in color, and is about one-quarter inch to one-third inch long. 

 It docs injury by egg-laying and feeding. I am not able to state at what stage in 

 the growth of an apple the eggs are laid, but the result of an egg-puncture is 

 a hard green core, which penetrates, generally, nearly to the centre of the apple. 

 These green cores spoil the fruit for either eating or cooking purposes, because 

 they remain as hard lumps even after cooking. Egg-punctures, also, cause the 

 apples to become distorted. They started to feed on the fruit the first week in 

 August this year and were found as late as September 3rd. They started to feed 

 first on the early varieties. They entered the soil first on August 29th. However, 

 had the weather not been so cold just then, I would have expected them to feed 

 until a much later date. Sanderson says: "They feed very little before they 

 enter the soil for the winter." I do not agree, because as many as forty to 

 sixty feeding punctures on one apple were common. 



Life History. The number of eggs to hatch Avas a little over 28 per cent. 

 The number of eggs per apple varied from one to many. One specimen of 

 Tolman's Sweet had twenty. The larvae are white or yellowish-white, about one- 

 half inch long wlien full gTown, footlesis, and possess an enlargement of the anterior 

 abdominal segments, which prevents them from straightening out. They eat 

 large irregular tunnels in the fruit. The change into the pupal stage takes place 

 within the fruit. The pupal stage was found to be between five and six days. 

 The adults emerge from the fruit and then begin to feed. They pass the winter 

 in the soil, but I cannot say whether the nature of the soil would have any influence 

 on the depth, nor do I know the depth at wliich they winter. In many cases they 

 do not leave the fruit before it is picked; therefore, fhey could easily be spread in 

 the larval or pupal condition in the shipment of the fruit. 



Whether they would survive the winter or not in barrels is a question which 

 remains to be answered. The adults are most commonly seen on the fruit the 

 second and third weeks in August. They hold tenaciously to the fruit. They 

 feed on either end and sometimes on the cheek. In only one case was more than 

 one Curculio found on a single apple and in this case there were two, one on each 

 end. When disturbed they remain very quiet, and in many instances feign death. 

 They do not fly readily, and are slow in their movements. They are not attracted 

 by lights placed in the trees at night. Ten bands of Tanglefoot were placed on the 

 trunks of trees, but only two specimens were captured. Many attempts were made 

 to attract them to poisoned honey, kerosene, molasses, tanglefoot and essence of 

 pear, but without results. Where trees were sprayed with either lime-sulphur 

 or Bordeaux mixture, the injury was greatly lessened. These substances probahly 

 act as repellents. Heavy rains did not interrupt these insects from feeding. 

 Haws and wild crabs are given as their natural hosts and as causes of their pre- 

 valence. However, in this orchard where they were so numerous there was only 

 one Haw tree, while the seedling crabs were not seriously injured by them. The 

 only cultivated, pruned and properly sprayed orchard in the district was entirely 

 free from its injury, while two years ago the injury was very serious and last year 

 to a considerable extent. From this it would appear that a man could keep his 

 orchard free from this insect regardless of the actions of his neighbors, and, also 

 that by the above methods the past can be completely controlled. 



