COLEOP-lfERA. 69 



nndor all conditions of place and temperature, "in about six 

 weeks" after they have entered the earth " they return to the 

 siu-face perfectly finished, winged, and equipped for the work 

 of destruction ;" and that, " as neither the curculio nor its grab 

 burrows in the ground during the winter, the common practice 

 of guarding against its ravages, by various operations in the 

 soil, rests upon a false theory, and is productive of no valuable 

 results."* If these conclusions be con-ect, these insects must 

 pass the winter, above ground, in the beetle state, and the 

 place of their concealment, during this season, remains to be 

 discovered. 



In July, 1818, Professor W. D. Peck obtained, from the warty 

 excrescences of the cherry-tree, the same insects that he " had 

 long known to occasion the fall of peaches, apricots, and 

 plums, before they had acquired half their growth ;" and, not 

 aware that this species had already received a scientific name, 

 he called it Rhj/nchcenus Cerasi, the cherry-weevil. His ac- 

 count of it, with a figure, may be seen in the fifth volume of 

 the "Massachusetts Agricultural Repository and Jom-nal." 

 The grubs, found by Professor Peck in the tumors of the 

 cherry-tree, went into the ground on the sLxth of July, and on 

 the thirtieth of the same month, or twenty-fom days from 

 their leaving the bark, the perfect insects began to rise, and 

 were soon ready to deposit their eggs. 



The plum, still more- than the cherry tree, is subject to a dis- 

 ease of the small limbs, that shows itself in the form of large 

 irregular warts, of a black color. Professor Peck referred this 

 disease, as well as that of the cherry-tree, to the agency of 

 insects, but was uncertain whether to attribute it to his cherry- 

 weevil " or to another species of the same genus." It was his 

 opinion that " the seat of the disease is in the bark. The sap 

 is diverted from its regular course, and is absorbed entirely by 

 the bark, which is very much increased in thickness ; the cuticle 

 bursts, the swelling becomes irregular, and is formed into black 



* See Dr. Sanborn's interesting communications on the Plum Curculio, in the 

 Boston Cultivator, for May 19, 1849, and July 13, 1850, and in the Puritan 

 Kecorder, for May 2, and the Cambridge Chronicle for May 30, 1850. 



