THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 41 



insect passes the winter in the beetle state, and that it is, like the 

 other species, single-brooded. Both sexes bore cylindrical holes in 

 the fruit for food, and these holes are of the exact diameter of the 

 snout, and consequently somewhat larger than those of the Apple 

 Curculio. These holes are broadened at the bottom, or gouged out 

 in the shape of a gourd; and especially is this the case with those in- 

 tended by the female for the reception of an egg. The egg, in this 

 case also, enlarges from endosmosis, and it is probable that all wee- 

 vils that make a puncture for the reception of their eggs, gnaw and 

 enlarge the bottom, not only to give the egg room to swell, but to 

 deaden the surrounding fruit, and prevent its crushing such egg — the 

 same object being attained by the deadened flap made by the cres- 

 cent of the little Turk. Wherever this insect abounds, plums will be 

 found covered with its holes, the great majority of them, however, 

 made for feeding purposes. The gum exudes from each puncture, and 

 the fruit either drops or becomes knotty and worthless. 



The young larva which hatches from the egg, instead of rioting in 

 the flesh of the plum, or remaining around the outside of the kernel, 

 makes an almost straight course for that kernel, through the yet soft 

 shell of which it penetrates. Here it remains until it has become full- 

 fed, when by a wise instinct it cuts a round hole through the now 

 hard stone, and retires inside again to change to the pupa and finall} 7 " 

 to the beetle state. When once the several parts of the beetle are 

 sufficiently hard and strong, it ventures through the hole which it 

 had already providently prepared for exit with its stronger larval 

 jaws, and then easily bores its way through the flesh and escapes. 



It must not be forgotten that, while the kernel of the fruit is yet 

 soft, the larva of the little Turk often penetrates and devours it ; but 

 in this case the soft stone is more or less reduced to reddish powder, 

 whereas the larva of the Plum Gouger enters the stone and feeds on 

 the inside while the outside hardens. The normal habit of the for- 

 mer is to feed on the outside; that of the latter on the inside of the 

 stone. 



REMEDIES. 



This Plum Gouger is about as hard to deal with as the Apple 

 Curculio. It drops almost as reluctantly and we therefore cannot do 

 much by the jarring process to diminish its numbers. Moreover it 

 takes wing much more readily than the other weevils we have men- 

 tioned; and though fruit that is badly punctured for food, often falls 

 prematurely to the ground, yet, according to Mr. Walsh, that infested 

 with the larva generally hangs on the tree until the stone :e hard and 

 premature ripening sets in. In all probability the stunto ' and pre- 

 maturely ripened fruit containing this insect will jar down u.uch more 

 readily than the healthy fruit, but I have so far had no oppovJunity of 

 making any practical observations myself, and must couclude by 



