82 THIRD ANNUAL REPORT OP 



or even of the Codling Moth. Why such is the case it would be diffi- 

 cult to explain ! It is one of those incomprehensible facts which at 

 every turn confront the student of Nature's works. We might with 

 equal reason ask why it is that of the two stone fruits, the plum and 

 the cherry, the larger falls and perishes and the smaller hangs on and 

 lives, when infested with the Plum Curculio; and of the two pom a* 

 ceous fruits, the apple and the haw, the larger likewise falls and 

 perishes and the smaller hangs on and lives, when infested with sim- 

 ilar larvae ? Most persons would naturally infer that the larger in- 

 stead of the smaller fruits would best resist the injurious gnawings of 

 the worm within ; and though we may explain away the paradox by 

 supposing that the longer stem of the smaller fruits prevents the in- 

 jury from reaching its juncture with the branch, so readily as it does 

 through the shorter stem of the larger fruits; or that the greater 

 weight of the larger fruit causes it to fall so readily ; yet this is only 

 assuming, and I doubt whether the vegetable pathologist will ever be 

 able to show the peculiarities of the fruits which cause the different 

 effects. 



The larva of the Apple Curculio has no legs and is so hump- 

 backed that it cannot stretch out, and would cut a very sorry figure 

 in attempting to descend the tree. Therefore, as the fruit containing 

 it mostly hangs on the tree, the insect is effectually imprisoned. But 

 Nature's ways are always ways of wisdom and her resources are inex- 

 haustible ! Consequently we find that instead of having to go under- 

 ground to transform, as does the Plum Curculio, the normal habit of 

 our Apple Curculio is to transform within the fruit. The larva, after 

 becoming full fed, settles down in a neat cavity, and soon throws off 

 its skin and assumes the pupa state, when it appears as at Figure 11, 

 a. After remaining in this state from two to three weeks it under- 

 goes another moult and the perfect beetle state is assumed. We thus 

 see that the Apple Curculio is cradled in the fruit in which it was 

 born till it is a perfect beetle, fully fledged, and ready to carry out 

 the different functions and objects of its life. In other words, it never 

 leaves the fruit, after hatching, till it has become a perfect beetle. 

 This fact I have fully tested by breeding a number myself both from 

 infested crabs which I collected, and from cultivated apples, also in- 

 fested, that were kindly forwarded to me by Mr. J. B. Miller, of Anna, 

 Illinois. I learn also from Mr. George Parmelee of Old Mission, 

 Michigan, that he has satisfied himself of the same trait in the natural 

 history of this insect, and I fully convinced myself that such was the 

 normal habit, by repeatedly removing the full grown larva from the 

 fruit and placing it on the surface of the ground, when, in every in- 

 stance, it would make no attempt to bury itself, but would always 

 transform on the surface. 



