35 THIRD ANNUAL REPORT OF 



ent season from the fruit of the Pear or Black Thorn ( Crataegus to- 

 mentosa) obtained from Mr. Walsh. 



t Fi s- 12 -1 Though belonging to the same genus as our 



Plum Curculio, and having very much the same 

 form, as may be seen by referring to the figure, 

 (Fig. 12, a side view ; b back view), yet it differs 

 ) ' nfllfllin remarkably in its habits from both of the preced- 

 » weevils. It is, like them, an indigenous spe- 

 'cies, and its original fruit was evidently the wild 

 Haw, which in the West it yet seems to prefer to 

 the cultivated fruits. But in the East it has become very injurious 

 to the Quince and, as we might naturally expect, also attacks the 

 Pear, and especially the Lawrence and other late varieties. In Sep- 

 tember, 1868, 1 received specimens from W. W. Sweet, of Highstown, 

 N. J., with the statement that they were found on pears, and Dr. 

 Trimble at a late meeting of the New York Farmers' Club (Oct. 22, 

 1S70), gave the following account of its injuries in New Jersey the 

 present year: 



"Yesterday five or six hundred were taken from the bottoms of 

 two barrels of quinces, although those quinces had only been gath- 

 ered four days before. A friend of mine has a quince orchard of 286 

 trees. These trees this season should average seventy or eighty 

 quinces to a tree, making more than twenty thousand. Upon a most 

 careful search I was unable to find one specimen perfect, or clear of 

 one or more blemishes caused by the punctures of this insect. Fre- 

 quently four, five, or six grubs will be found in a single quince. Mr. 

 Goldsmith, the owner, keeps this orchard in first-rate order; he has 

 faithfully kept out the borers, so fatal to the quince trees; has fertil- 

 ized very freely, and the cultivation is perfect. He told me yester- 

 day, that his crop this year is thirty barrels, which will yield him 

 about $125. Had this insect let him alone he should have had at least 

 100 barrels, worth $800 to $1,000. Many of his later pears, including 

 the Seckel and Lawrence, have suffered greatly, though not to the 

 same extent as his quinces. A few days ago he emptied a barrel of 

 cullings, chiefly Lawrence pears, and in and near the bottom of that 

 barrel were found at least 400 of these grubs. A month ago I visited 

 the orchards attached to one of the best nurseries in Pennsylvania, 

 and I found the sad evidence of the presence of this enemy. Even 

 f he Seckel pears, though very abundant, were almost worthless; 

 later varieties still worse. Mr. Fuller tells me that he has seen this 

 season, in Western New York, the same condition of fruit at a well 

 known nursery, even the Huchesse pears almost totally destroyed. 

 This fruit enemy seems yet confined to localities; but is spreading 

 rapidly." 



This beetle was first very briefly described by Mr. Walsh in a note 

 in the Prarie Farmer for July ISth, 1863, p. 37, from specimens found 

 by him on the hawthorn, but until I bred it this spring, nothing was 

 known of its larval history. It is a somewhat larger insect than the 

 Plum Curculio, has a comparatively longer snout, and is very broad- 

 shouldered; thus tapering just the opposite way to the Apple Curcu- 



