104 



BEETLES. 



The Apple-blossom Weevil (Anthoiiomus pomorum) 

 does much harm by laying its eggs in unopened Apple- 

 buds, where the maggot feeds, and thus destroys the 

 young forming fruit. This Weevil shelters itself 

 during winter under clods of earth and rubbish, and 

 also beneath rough bark on the tree (so that keeping 

 rough ground and bark in order serves much to 



Fig. 83. — Apple-blossom Weevil, maggot and pupa, nat. size and 

 magnified; infested Apple -bud. 



diminish their numbers) ; but further, it comes out in 

 the spring, and the females, it is stated, rarely fly, but 

 crawl on the branches, and drop down on being 

 alarmed.* By working on this habit of the Apple - 



* In the life-history of this insect by John Curtis, he says : — " In 

 March, when the flower buds are swelling, the Beetles emerge from 

 their retreats, when the males are seen in sunny mornings flying 

 amongst the trees in search of the females, who generally are crawling 

 over the branches, although they are also furnished with wings." 

 Also, in the same paper (in the ' Gardener's Chron.' for 18 li, p. 556), 

 John Curtis says, " From various statements it seems that the females 

 will not readily lly, and as they crawl up the trees their incursions 

 may be stopped and the crops saved by winding tarred bandages round 

 the upper portion of the trunks." This point of the female Beetle 

 rarely flying is mentioned also by Schmidberger ; but in a series of 

 observations made at one locality in Kent in 18'.)0, it appeared that 

 females might then be found on the wing. \s, however, the obser- 

 vations from which I gave the note of habits in my first edition, and 

 also the beneficial effects of jarring to throw down the Weevils, stand 

 on such good authority, I think it best to leave the above passage 

 almost unaltered. 



