WINTER MEETING. 323 



"hair. The head and broad, horny collar covering the first joint are 

 black in the young larva, but afterward become of a shaded brown 

 color. It gets its growth in three or four weeks from the date of 

 hatching and it then cuts its way out through the side of the fruit and 

 either drops to the ground or crawls down the branch and trunk and 

 seeks a crevice or scale under which to spin its Hat, white, papery co- 

 coon. It is very partial to folds of paper or cloth for this purpose, 

 and bands of these materials make excellent traps, and before the dis- 

 covery of the spraying processes were much used by orchardists to 

 keep the pest in check. The chrysalis is oval, brown and beset with 

 tiny teeth by which to work it out of the cocoon when the moth is 

 ready to issue. There are two broods annually, the moths from the 

 first brood appearing early in July, while the second brood passes the 

 winter in the chrysalis state. 



The codling moth has a number of natural enemies, but these are 

 not able to materially reduce its numbers. It may be temporarily con- 

 quered by the Paris green or London purple sprays, using not less than 

 200 gallons of water with one pound of the poison, which should be 

 kept thoroughly diffused. 



36. Give brief account of plum curculio. 



The plum or peach curculio fConotrachelus nenuphar) is a native 

 American insect, and is the chief enemy of all our choicest stone fruits. 

 The perfect insect is a small rough brownish beetle, with some mark- 

 ings of shining black and ochre yellow. It is about one-fifih of an 

 inch long, quite stout, and with its beak and legs folded close to its 

 body, bears a close resemblance to a dried bud of the peach or plum* 

 Its small but sharp jaws are on the end of a stout-curved beak. It 

 comes out of its winter quarters early in the spring, and feeds spar- 

 ingly on the opening leaf buds. Shortly after the young peaches or 

 other fruits are formed, its work will be found upon them. Two sorts 

 of punctures may be noticed: one a simple cut through the skin for 

 the purpose of feeding upon the flesh underneath, the other larger and 

 deeper, accompanied by the crescent-shaped slit, which marks the po- 

 sition of the egf!;. The cavity for the latter being prepared, the insect 

 reverses its position and drops into it a single pearly white egg. The 

 crescent is then cut, partly encircling it, apparently for the purpose of 

 deadening the little flap, in order that the delicate egg may not be 

 crushed by the too rapid growth of the fruit cells. The curculio is a 

 long lived insect, and the females continue the process of egg-laying at 

 the rate of from two to five a day for a period or six weeks or two 

 months, and, though but single brooded, their period of activity is so 

 long that their larvte will be found in all but the latest varieties of 



