INSECTS INFESTING THE QUINCE. 



125 



Fig. 103. 



The female curculio punctures the fruit and deposits an 

 egg therein. This hatches out in a few days, and the grub 

 works, for the most part, near the surface of the fruit, never, 

 as far as known, entering the core. It acquires its full growth 

 in about a month after leaving the egg, and then usually, but 

 not always, deserts the fruit and burrows two or three inches 

 into the earth. Here it forms a small cell, in which it remains 

 unchanged until the following Spring, no matter whether it 

 left the fruit as early as the first of August or as late as the 

 first of October. In April of the following year, the larva 

 assumes the pupa form, from which the beetle issues in the 

 course of a week or two. 



Fig. 103. — Quince Curculio, enlarged ; 

 a, side view ; &, back view — color, ash- 

 gray. 



The beetle (Fig. 103) is about two 

 lines long, of an ashen-gray color, mot- 

 tled with pale-yellow, dusky and whitish, 

 and at the base of the thorax is a some- 

 what triangular dusky spot. The body 

 is broadest at Che shoulders, and the 

 wing cases are destitute of humps. The snout is longer than 

 the thorax and is bent beneath the breast. 



I have found but two specimens of this species, and these 

 were found in 1882. 



Remedies. — In the latter part of April, spray the foliage and 

 fruit thoroughly with Nos. 5 or 7. Repeat in two weeks if 

 necessary. 



