30 THIRD ANNUAL REPORT OF 



that which they really know nothing about, and I ought to comment 

 severely on what has been said about this insect; but I refrain from 

 doing so, in this case, lest it be said that my words are prompted from 

 personal considerations.* I shall therefore content myself with a 

 plain narrative of this insect's habits. 



First then, let us explain the differences between the perfect 

 states of this insect and the Plum Curculio, that any one may distin- 

 guish between them. 



The snout of the Plum Curculio hangs down like the trunk of 

 an elephant; it is short, stout, and does not admit of being stretched 

 out horizontally forwards ; and as may be seen by referring to the 

 figure (Fig. 1, c) is scarcely as long as the head and thorax together, 

 and can be folded back between the legs, where there is a groove to 

 receive it. The Plum Curculio is broadest across the shoulders and 

 narrows behind, and moreover, the black sealing-wax-like, knife-edged 

 elevations on the back, with the pale band behind them, characterize 

 it at once from all our other fruit boring snout-beetles. 



The Apple, or Four-humped Curculio 

 (Fig. 10, a, natural size; h, side view; c, 

 back view,) is a smaller insect with a snout 

 which sticks out more or less horizontally 

 and can not be folded under, and which in 

 the male is about half as long, and in the 

 ^female is fully as long as the whole body. 

 This insect has narrow shoulders and broad- 

 ens behind, where it is furnished with four 

 very conspicuous humps, from which it takes its name. It has nei- 

 ther the polished black elevations nor the pale band of the Plum Cur- 

 culio. In short, it differs generically, and never attacks stone fruit. 



The size varies from l-20th to nearly l-12th of an inch, but the col- 

 ors are quite uniform, the body being ferruginous or rusty-brown 

 often with the thorax and anterior third of the wing-covers ash-gray 

 — the thorax having three more or less distinct pale lines. 



ITS NATURAL HISTORY. 



This beetle like the Plum-weevil is a native American insect, and 

 has from time immemorial fed on, and bred in, our wild crabs. It is 

 also commonly met with on the Thorn, and Mr. Wm. Saunders, of 

 London, C.W., tells me that though abundant on the last named tree, it 

 has not yet learned to attack the apple in his locality. It eventually 

 learned to like our cultivated apples and pears, and is also found on 

 quinces. At present it does considerable damage to the crop in some 

 localities, though it yet prefers the wild to the cultivated fruit. Like 



* My views on this subject, with comments on what has been said about this insect, may be 

 found in a controversy, in articles published in the American Entomologist and Botanist, Vol. II, 

 pp. 225-7 and 268-71 ; the Prairie Farmer, July 16th, 2:5d and Aug. 27th, 1S70; and the Journal of 

 Agriculture, Oct. 13th, and Nov. 10th and 17th, 1870. 



