104 



Such are some of the many difficulties which the Student of 

 Economic Entomology encounters, owing to the custom, too prevalent 

 among closet-naturalists, of despising the habits of animal as un- 

 worthy of their notice, and devoting their exclusive attention to its 

 coloration, its structure, and its classification. "And yet," as Agassiz 

 has so truthfully remarked, "without a thorough knowledge of the 

 habits of animals, it will never be possible to ascertain with any 

 degree of precision the true limits of all those species, which descrip- 

 tive zoologists have of late admitted witli so much confidence in their 

 works. And, after all, what does it matter to Science, that thousands 

 of species, more or less, should be described and entered in our systems, 

 IF WE KNOW NOTHING ABOUT TiiEM ?" {Contriljutions, etc., I. p. 57.) 



Since, as has been shown above, plums infested by the Gouger do 

 not fall prematurely from the tree like those which are infested by the 

 Curculio, it is plain that picking up and destroying the fallen fruit, 

 though an excellent mode of counterworking the latter insect, will 

 be of no avail against the former. Both species, however, can be 

 jarred off the trees and destroyed; and when this process is per- 

 formed, a sharp look-out should be kept for both. It will also be a 

 useful precaution, whenever a few stunted plums are observed to 

 ripen prematurely on any tree, to pluck them off and destroy them. 

 In most cases, they will be found to contain, either the perfect 

 Gouger, or the larva that is destined subsequently to develop into the 

 Gouger, snugly ensconced in the kernel, and often with the hole al- 

 ready bored through the stone for the escape of the matured insect. 



The wide differences between the Curculio and the Gouger may 

 be thus briefly stated: — The Curculio is beautifully streaked and 

 spotted with black and white and has two shining black humps, like 

 black sealing-wax, on its back ; the Gouger is clay yellow in front and 

 of a dull lead-color behind, without any humps at all. The Curculio 

 cuts a crescent slit in every fruit in which it lays an egg ; the Gouger 

 bores a small round hole for this purpose. The Curculio larva bores 

 exclusively in the flesh of the fruit; the Gouger larva always strikes 

 a bee-line for the kernel. The Curculio larva leaves the fruit and 

 goes underground to pass into the beetle state; the Gouger larva re- 

 mains throughout in the infested fruit. Of the Curculio there are 

 two broods every year ; of the Gouger there is apparently but a single 

 brood. Finally, every stone-fruit except Cherry that is stung by tlie 

 Curculio falls, as a general rule, prematurely to the ground ; while the 

 plums stung by the Gouger hang on the tree and ripen prematurely. 



