12 THIRD ANNUAL REPORT OF 



they reasoned simply from conjecture ; nor will it surprise us when we 

 understand the facts in the case. The facts that fresh and softCurcu- 

 lios are found in this latitude as early as the last of June, and 

 that they still come out of the ground in August, or as late as Sep- 

 tember, and even October in more northerly latitudes, are well cal- 

 culated to mislead ; while it was difficult to imagine an insect living 

 ten months before ovipositing, without dwindling away through the 

 action of its enemies. But in the beetle state, the Curculio has few, 

 if any enemies, and in my former writings on this subject, I have 

 shown that the other facts do not in the least prove the insect to be 

 double-brooded. Among those whose opinions commanded respect, 

 from their profound entomological knowledge and general accuracy, 

 was Mr. Walsh, who, during his last years, strenuously contended that 

 this insect was double- brooded. For several years I have entertained 

 a different opinion, believing that it was single brooded, as a rule, and 

 only exceptionally double-brooded; and the facts so fully bear me 

 out in this opinion, that were my late associate living to-day, I should 

 bring forth the testimony with a feeling of triumph, for he was not 

 often in the wrong! It is worthy of remark, however, that Mr. 

 Walsh's first impression, as given by him in the year 1867*, was that 

 this insect is single brooded; his first opinion thus coinciding with 

 what I have now proved to be the facts in the case. In my first Re- 

 port I have reviewed the experiments which led him to change his 

 opinion, and have shown that they did not warrant his final conclu- 

 sion. 



The many words that have been penned in the discussion of this 

 question would fill a volume ; but one stern fact, one thorough exper- 

 iment, is worth more than all the theories that were ever conceived, 

 or the phrases that were ever written on the subject. At first it seems 

 to be a very simple question to settle, but the fact that it remained 

 unsettled so long would indicate the reverse. Judge A. M. Brown of 

 Villa Ridge, at my suggestion, endeavored in the summer of 1869 to 

 solve the problem by imprisoning the first bred beetles and furnish- 

 ing them with plucked fruit. Dr. Hull partially performed a like ex- 

 periment, and I did the same myself; but we were met by the advo- 

 cates of the two-brooded theory with the objection that such a test 

 was of no value, as the Curculio would not deposit on plucked fruit or 

 in confinement ; and to add weight to their argument they could cite 

 us to numerous instances among butterflies to prove that many insects 

 really will not deposit in confinement. But, as we shall see, they 

 placed too much confidence in the instinct of Mrs. Turk when, from 

 such premises, they made these deductions apply to her. 



As I proved over and over again, the question could not be solved 

 with any more certainty, by confining beetles to living boughs con- 

 taining fruit, as the boughs could not well be covered with any sub- 



* Practical Entomologist, Vol. II., No. 7. 



