208 



GENUINE SNOUT-BEETLES. 



the hole is a little enlarged at the base. In it the egg hatches into 

 a larva, which does not, however, penetrate to the core, but bur- 

 rows in the fruit near the surface. 



The larva, a little larger than that of the plum curculio, and 

 having a narrovi* dusky line down the back, matures in about four 

 weeks, when it leaves the quince by a cylindrical opening and 

 drops to the ground. Into this it InuTows to a flepth of several 

 inches, remaining there until spring, when it transforms to a pupa, 

 and soon afterwards to a beetle. This also feeds upon the quince, 

 sometimes penetrating deeply into it. It also occasionall\- attacks 

 the pear. 



Like the plum-curculio it can be collected in large numbers 

 by jarring; fruit infested, which falls prematurely to the ground, 

 should also be gathered and destroyed. 



Pig. 221.— Conotracbelus crataegi, 

 Walsh. After Riley. 



Fig. 222. — Tyloderma fragarise, Ril. After 

 Rilev. 



It seems that all members of the genus ConotracheUis possess 

 similar food habits, and many other plants besides the fruit-pro- 

 (iucing ones are infested; for instance, the C. fissunguis Lee, so 

 frequently found along the shores of tide water swamps in the 

 showy flowers of the Hibiscus, feeds as a larva in the bolls of that 

 plant. 



There are some species of a closely allied genus, (Chalcodcr- 

 mus), which are found as beetles upon the fruit of the dewberry 

 and blackberry, which they destroy. The writer has also seen 

 them in large numbers upon human excrement containing the 

 seeds of these berries. 



