36 FRUIT INSECTS 



other. Usually the apple curculios are greatly in the minority, 

 and their presence serves merely to supplement the injuries 

 inflicted by the other species. In Connecticut this species has 

 been recorded as seriously injuring young peach trees })y punc- 

 turing the twigs. 



The apple curculio is a reddish-brown snout l)eetle, and may 

 be distinguished from its relatives by having four distinct humps 

 on the posterior declivity of the wing covers, two on each side 

 (Fig. 39). The thorax is usually striped with three ash-gray 

 lines and th(^ front part of the wing covers are more or less 

 grayish. The femah^ is about J inch in length, the male a little 



smaller. The beak is over 

 one half the length of the 

 body in the female, is slightly 

 curved downward and carried 

 projecting obliquely forward 

 and does not hang down like 

 an elephant's trunk as in the 



Fig. 39. — The apple curculio ( X 4). Pl^m CUrculio. 



The beetles hibernate in 

 grass, under rubbish and in other sheltered places, and ap- 

 pear on the trees soon after the petals fall. They begin 

 to feed on the young apples as soon as they are as large 

 as small peas, and the female begins egg-laying soon after. 

 In feeding the beetle punctures the skin of the apple b}-- 

 means of the small jaws at the tip of the beak and then eats 

 out a cylindrical cavity in the pulp as deep as the length of the 

 beak. Growth is stopped around the i:)uncture, the surround- 

 ing tissue hardens and a knotty deformity results. 



The cavity excavated by the female for the reception of the 

 egg is similar to the one made in feeding but is considerably 

 enlarged at the bottom. After placing the oval white or yellow- 

 ish egg, 2V inch in length, at the bottom of the cavity the female 

 seals up the small external opening with a drop of excrement. 



