THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 53 



but confusion exists with regard to it. Upon applying to my friend, 

 Dr. T. C. Hilgard, of St. Louis — a recognized authority on such sub- 

 jects — he furnished me with the article which may be found in the 

 Journal of Agriculture of January 16th, 1869. I most respectfully de- 

 clined publishing it in these pages, knowing that the reader would 

 not be likely to understand what was either too profound or too be- 

 fogged for my own comprehension, and those who require a synopsis 

 of this fungus, are referred to that article. Verily, we must conclude 

 that Peach-rot is not yet much understood, if a more clear exposition 

 of it cannot be given! 



5— That they prefer smooth-skinned to rough skinned fruit. 



6 — That up to the present time the Miner and other varieties of 

 the Chickasaw plum have been almost entirely exempt from their 

 attacks, and that in the Columbia plum the young larvae are usually 

 "drowned out" before maturing. 



7 — That they deposit and mature alike in nectarines, plums, apri- 

 cots, cherries and peaches ; in black knot on plum trees, and in some 

 kinds of apples, pears and quinces; and, according to Dr. Hull, they 

 also deposit but do not mature in strawberries, gooseberries, grapes, 

 and in the vigorous shoots of the peach tree. 



8— That it is'their normal habit to transform underground, though 

 some few undergo their transformations in the fruit. 



9 — That the cherry, when infested, remains on the tree, with the 

 exception of the English Morello, which matures and then separates 

 from the stem; but that all other fruits, when containing larvae, usually 

 fall to the ground. In the larger fruits four or five larvie may some- 

 times be found in a single specimen, and I have taken five full grown 

 larvae from a peach that had evidently fallen and laid on the ground 

 for over a week. 



10— That the greater portion of them pass the winter in the per- 

 fect beetle state, under the old bark of both forest and fruit trees, 

 under shingles, logs, and in rubbish of all kinds, and especially in the 

 underbrush of the woods. 



11 — That they are always most numerous in the early part of the 

 season on the outside of those orchards that are surrounded with tim- 

 ber, and that they frequently shelter in apple-trees and other trees 

 before the stone fruit forms. 



12 — That a certain portion of them also pass the winter under- 

 ground, both in the larva and pupa states, at a depth., frequently of 

 from 2 to 3 feet. 



13— That those which hybernate as beetles, begin to leave their 

 winter quarters and to enter our orchards, throughout central Mis- 

 souri, during the first days of May, and commence to puncture the 

 fruit about the middle of the same month— a little earlier or later 

 according to the season — the fruit of the peach being at the time 

 about the size of a small marble. 



