62 INSECTS AFFECTING THE PLUM. 



caught. There are many patterns of these catchers 

 in use in different sections of the country. The in- 

 sects are most easily caught in the morning, when 

 the atmosphere is cool. 



The Plum Gouger. 



Coccotoru* prunicida. 

 The Plum Gouger is most injurious in the region 

 west of the Mississippi river, being rarely or never 

 found in the Eastern States. But in Iowa, and 

 probably, also, in adjacent states, it frequently is 

 more destructive than the Plum Curculio, from 

 which it differs considerably in history and habits. 

 The adult Gouger is a small snout beetle, about the 

 same size as the Curculio, but with a smooth back, 

 and of a yellowish or brownish color. It appears 

 about blossoming time, and soon after the fruit sets 

 begins operations upon it. Instead of cutting a 

 crescent-shaped mark to lay its egg, it gnaws out a 

 little cavity beneath the skin in which the egg is de- 

 posited. A few days later the larva hatches, and 

 burrows through the pulp to the pit, gnawing 

 through the soft shell to the ' meaty ' portion inside. 

 Here it continues to develop, feeding upon the con- 

 tents of the pit, rather than the pulp surrounding it. 

 After several weeks it becomes full grown : it then 

 gnaws a hole through the hardening wall of the pit, 

 so it can escape after completing its transformations,. 

 and changes to the pupa state inside. A short time 

 afterwards it again changes, this time to the adult,, 



