THE PRACTICAL ENTOMOLOGIST. 



77 



winter in the perfect state, and been tempted, as 

 often happens in such cases, by some peculiarly fine 

 and warm day, to come forth temporarily from their 

 winter quarters into the open air. The truth of the 

 matter is, that most authors have been disposed to 

 underrate the duration of insect life during the 

 perfect or winged state, putting the average period 

 at a few days or weeks, when perhaps a few months 

 would be nearer the mark. There is little doubt 

 now, in my mind, that the "Curculios" bred from 

 the fruit of one year are the same individuals that 

 puncture the fruit of the following year. 



Almost all the Snout-beetles will fall suddenly 

 to the ground, when they are alarmed ; and almost 

 all Leaf-beetles (^Cliri/somela family) have the same 

 habit. But this is preemlnenlly the case with our 

 friend the " Curoulio," because, in common with 

 many other Snout-beotles, nature has so organized 

 him, that he can fold back his snout between his 

 front legs, curl up his legs under his belly, and 

 thus, when he falls, leave no part liable to strike 

 against any obstacle and be injured. In this pos- 

 ture a "Curculio" looks quite unlike a living and 

 moving insect, and would be readily mistaken by 

 the inexperienced eye for a dried bud accidentally 

 knocked oflF the tree. But place him on the ground 

 for a few minutes — remain perfectly motionless 

 yourself — and watch the proceedings of the seem- 

 ing di-y bud. One after another you will perceive 

 the legs, the snout and the antennae, gradually dis- 

 played ; and finally, if the day is hot and you have 

 patience to wait long enough, you will see the "lit- 

 tle Turk" open his wing-cases, expand his long 

 wings, and fly off in the air to renew his depreda- 

 tions. People commonly supppose that '' Curculios" 

 do not or cannot fly. In reality, they do not fly as 

 strongly and as readily as many other beetles. But 

 Dr. Harris "frequently caught them flying,'' {h>J. 

 Jus. p. 76), and both David Thomas and Dr. Trim- 

 ble testify that they often fly in the warm part of 

 the day. (Trimble's Fruit Insects, pp. 42 — 3.) 



Having thus made ourselves acquainted with the 

 natural history of the "Curculio," we can now ap- 

 ply understandingly the most approved methods for 

 counter-working this little pest. These are redu- 

 cible to two, the first being directed against the in- 

 sect in the larva state, and the second against the 

 insect in the perfect or beetle state. 



1st. Gather up and destroy all the wormy fruit, 

 as fast as it falls from the tree, and before the larva 

 has had time to leave the fruit and retire under- 

 ground. Thus you nip the evil in the bud. The 

 cheapest and easiest and most "Western" method, 

 is to allow a gang of hogs the range of the orchard 

 — hogs being very fond of green fruit and not hav- 

 ing any squeamish scruples about the worms con- 

 tained in it. This is the practice adopted by Dr. 

 Hull, of Alton, Illinois, one of the most successful 

 plum-growers in the West. Sheep and cows will 

 also eat green fruit; but then they will also browse 

 upon the trees, and perhaps occasionally bark them. 

 Where hogs are objectionable, either because other 

 crops are grown under the same fence with the 

 fruit-trees, or because the sense of propriety and 



neatness is ofiended by the habits of these animals, 

 all that remains to be done is to hire that work 

 done by human hands, which the hogs will do gra- 

 tuitously and thank you for the chance. In any 

 case, the work must be done systematically and re- 

 gularly. It will be no earthly use to pick up and 

 destroy the fallen fruit, after the larva has left it 

 and gone underground. 



Of course it will be understood, that by destroy- 

 ing the wormy fruit you do not diminish the crop 

 of "curculios" for the current year, but only that 

 for the ensuing year. And as "curculios" can and 

 do fly, it will be seen that it is of the utmost im- 

 portance that a whole neighborhood should co- 

 operate in this plan. Otherwise a fruit-grower, 

 who did not allow a single "Curculio" to come to 

 maturity on his own premises, might be perpetual- 

 ly pestered with such as have been raised by his 

 neighbors, flying in upon his fruit-trees, day after 

 day and week after week. As cherries, unlike all 

 other cultivated fruit, do not fall prematurely to 

 the ground, when infested by the larva of the "Cur- 

 culio," it is plain that in this particular case the 

 above method can have no application. Hence, if 

 cherry-trees are to be kept free from "Curculio," 

 we must depend solely and entirely upon the follow- 

 ing method. 



2nd. Jar your trees regularly every day, catch- 

 ing and destroying all the "Curculios" that fall 

 therefrom. But recollect that the tree must be 

 suddenly jarred, not slowly and gradually shaken ; 

 for the wind shakes the boughs of every tree con- 

 tinually, and yet the "Curculios" do not fall to the 

 ground in consequence. But how are we to catch 

 the "little Turk," after he has fallen to the ground? 

 The old metiiod was to spread white sheets on the 

 ground under the infested tree, and to pick up the 

 insects by hand as they fall, and destroy them in 

 any convenient manner. For this purpose. Dr. 

 Trimble recommends a large square sheet to be 

 prepared, with a straight strip of wood sewed along 

 the whole length of one of its edges, by way of 

 stretcher, and two shorter stretchers, each sewed to 

 one half of the opposite edge, the sheet being slit 

 from between these two short stretchers to its cen- 

 tral point, to receive the trunk of the tree. By 

 this means the sheet is more easily spread out, and 

 the wind is prevented from roughing it up. But 

 so long as the whole surface under the boughs of 

 the infested tree is covered by white cloth, so that 

 no "curculios" shall be likely to fall outside and 

 escape observation, it is immaterial I'or the success 

 of the process what fashion of cloth be adopted. 



Where the tree is not very large, and a limb of 

 an inch or two in diameter can be conveniently 

 sparedj it is a good plan to saw off such a limb so 

 as to leave a short stump to strike with the mallet 

 in the jarring process. Otherwise, if the trunk it- 

 self has to be struck, it becomes necessary to pad 

 the mallet to prevent injuring the bark. Where 

 trees are quite large, Dr. Trimble recommends that 

 a common mop-stick be padded at the end and ap- 

 plied successively to the leading limbs, one after 

 the other. 



