no 



INJURIOUS INSECTS OF 1904. 



There is no doubt but that this Curculio is to be regarded quite as 

 much of a pest to the apple in Minnesota as the Codling Moth, or 

 even more so. 



This Curculio belongs to the family of beetles known as "Snout 

 Beetles" or weevils, of which there are about 10,000 known species, 

 which family causes a loss of over $30,000,000 annually in the United 

 States. It is unnecessary to state that our little friend with the humps 

 on his back, the Plum Curcuho, does all he can with other members 

 of his family to keep up his reputation as an evil-doer. 



As a result of this weevil's attack on the apple we find the fruit 

 dwarfed, misshapen, covered with ugly scars, looking like Fig. 120, 

 and actually worthless except for hog food, as it falls to the ground. 



Fig. 119. — Plum Curculio, larva or grub, pupa and imago. After Lugger. 



If one cuts into one of these apples during midsummer, in July say, 

 the small whitish grub is disclosed, actively engaged in boring through 

 the fruit, and waxing strong and fat, preparatory to the time when, 

 the apple fallen, he or she, as the case may be, will enter the ground 

 to pass through a resting stage or pupal stage of two or three weeks, 

 before turning into the imago, or perfect insect. This takes place 

 before fall, generally in August, but the beetle does not mate upon 

 emergence from the pupal stage. Its first instinct is to eat, and after 

 lunching upon fruit for a while, by puncturing the apples, it winters 

 under rubbish and leaves, deferring its courtship until the following 

 spring. The first warm days of spring, after the fruit is formed, find 

 the lady Curculio laying her eggs. Although the insect is single 

 brooded, she continues egg-laying for some little time, probably 



