38 



FRUIT INSECTS 



apples in hedges and wood lots adjoining orchards serve as cen- 

 ters of infestation, and should be destroyed. Grassy borders 

 and driveways, and particularly stone fences and stone piles 

 serve as excellent hibernating quarters for the beetles. Clean 

 orcharding is the most effective preventive of curculio attacks. 



References 



Uiley, 3d Mo. Kept. pp. 29-35. 1871. 



111. Agr. Exp. Sta. Bull. 98. 1905. 



W. Va. Agr. Exp. Sta. Bull. 126. 1910. 



The Apple Weevil 



Pseudanthonomus cratcegi Walsh 



While generally distributed over the eastern United States, 

 this weevil has been reported as injuring apples only in West 



Virginia. Walsh in 1866 

 reared the beetle from a 

 Cecidomyiid gall on the wild 

 thorn. 



The beetle is much smaller 

 than the species last treated, 

 being only yV inch in length. 

 It is of a uniform light brown 

 color and has the wing covers 

 deeply striated but without 

 hiunps or tubercles of any kind (Fig. 40) . The beetles emerge from 

 hibernation in early spring. They feed on the foliage more or 

 less throughout the season, but their principal food is the pulp 

 of the fruit, which they obtain through minute punctures made 

 in the skin. 



The minute, yellowish-white oval eggs are deposited in 

 cavities in the pulp eaten out by the females. The opening of 

 the cavity is then sealed with a drop of excrement. The eggs 



Fiu. 40. — The apple weevil (X 15). 



