12 SECOND REPORT OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



to quinces. Dr. Trimble records an instance in which, in the latter 

 part of October, five or six hundred of the larvae were taken from the 

 bottoms of two barrels of quinces gathered but four days before. In 

 an orchard, in New Jersey, in 1870, of nearly three hundred trees, 

 scarcely a single quince could be found free from the attack of the in- 

 sect. The injury was estimated at about ^800. 



Remedies. — The remedies against this insect are, first, the jarring 

 method, which has proved so successful with the plum weevil, for the 

 quince weevil falls quite as readily at a sudden jar. The proper time 

 for employing this remedy may be found by experiment, during the 

 months of June, July and August. Second, picking the infested fruit 

 and destroying it. The presence of the larvcC within the fruit may usu- 

 ally be discovered by the black grains of its excrements attached to its 

 surface. These rejecta are easily discernible when held in place by a 

 fibrous fungus growth which is often associated with the insect attack. 

 Mr. Cook informs me that the infested fruit, unlike that attacked by the 

 apple-worm, remains firmly attached to the tree. Its collection, there- 

 fore, involves more labor than the simple gathering of the fallen fruit. 



The apple-worms in the quinces. — The apple-worms were not as 

 numerous as the curculio larvae in the fruit sent for examination, and in 

 no case did I discover more than one in a quince. They displayed a 

 greater readiness, even when apparently not mature, to leave the fruit 

 in the box in which it had been sent to me, than the other larvre. Pos- 

 sibly even the smaller ones may have been mature, and all may have 

 been seeking retreats for their pupal change. 



A fungus attack. — All of the fruit received was also infested with a 

 fungus. Some of the cpiinces had almost their entire surface covered 

 with it, and its yellow growth extending quite a little distance into the 

 fruit. The fungus has been described and named by Prof. C. H. Peck, 

 N. Y. State Botanist, as Rcestelia aurantiaca — the specific name having 

 reference to the rich golden color of its spores. Upon inquiring of 

 Prof. Peck if the fungus was peculiar to the quince, and to what extent 

 it had been observed to be associated with insect attack, he replied: 

 '' It occurs also on unripe fruit of Amelanchier Canadensis and of species 

 of Crataegus. I do not think that it is always or necessarily accompa- 

 nied by an insect attack, although of two specimens of quinces recently 

 received from Rochester, and bearing the fungus, both had larvae in 

 them. In the Amelanchier fruit, I know that the fungus sometimes, at 

 least, works alone." [See also the Country Gentie/nan,(ox Dec. 17, 1885, 



p. TO I 6.] 



In answer to inquiries made of Mr. Cook of this fungus attack, the 

 following reply was returned, under date of August 3d: 



I send by mail, another package of the infested fruit, as desired. 



