219 



Mr. Howard replied that they are best mounted on card points and 

 preferably on the left side, at right angles to the point, the head for- 

 ward and the dorsum outward (away from the })in). 



Mr. Fletcher asked what would be the best mounting medium ? 



Mr. Howard said that shellac is used at Washington. 



Mr. Summers uses yellow shellac ; he finds it more satisfactory than 

 white. 



Mr. Cook thought the white shellac excellent if of good quality. But 

 it was not always good. He also finds Spalding's glue excellent. 



Mr. Fletcher had seen some recommendation of shellac in naphtha 

 had any one tried that ? 



Mr. Smith then read the following : 



NOTES ON THE PLUM CURCULIO. 



By J. B. Smith. 



No attempts at such experimentations as have been made by Messrs. 

 Cook, Weed, and Gillette have been undertaken, and only a single line 

 of investigation, which suggested itself early in the season, was followed 

 out. 



First, I noticed a new food habit — new to me at least. In beating 

 some bushes of tne June or service berry {Amelanchier canadensis) 

 I noticed the peculiar crescent marks of this plum curculio on the half- 

 grown fruit. Closer search turned up also the beetles, so that there 

 was no doubt as to the author of the punctures. The berries were very 

 generally infested by a coleopterous lirva which was not of this 

 species and which I failed to bring to maturity. It is interesting that 

 we should have this food plant for the species. The experiments were 

 made with the view of determining to what extent the insects would 

 come to maturity in apples. Early in the season, when the apples were 

 all set and as large as a nut, a number of stung plums and apples were 

 picked up beneath the trees and placed in jars on moist soil. From 

 some of the most heavily loaded branches apples with several fresh 

 punctures were picked and divided into two lots — one was placed on 

 moist soil, the other in a dry jar, in which their position was frequently 

 changed to prevent decay. Another lot of older apples with older 

 punctures was placed on moist soil. 



As a result, in the plums and apples picked from the ground nearly 

 all the larvae came to maturity; there was a larva for nearly every 

 puncture. In one small apple there were nine mature larvae. In the 

 young apples picked from the branches and laid on moist soil the pro- 

 portion of maturing larvae was almost or quite as great. In those 

 placed in the dry jars very few hatched and none came to maturity, as 

 none of the apples rotted. In the older apples with old punctures, 

 which were placed on moist soil, a few ot the larvae hatched and 

 reached maturity. 



