204 



NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 



bushels of fruit in a season. What boy will watch some 

 of these, so as to be able to tell us what they do ? ^ 



The Curculios, or Snout Beetles. — The apple curculio, AntJio- 

 nomiis quadrigibbiis, does considerable damage to cultivated 

 apples in some of the Southern States, but is not generally 

 numerous. There are also quince and grape curculios, 

 Coiwti'acheliis cratcugi and Crapoiiius ijiceqnalis, which may 

 be studied in neighborhoods where they are destruc- 

 tive. Other members of this family infest nuts and 



acorns and some 

 other garden 

 fruits. The 

 insect for special 

 st udy in this 

 group is the 

 plum curculio, 

 Conoti'acJiehts 

 neii jcp h ar. If 

 neglected, this 

 pest may take a 

 large part, or the 

 whole, of the peach, apricot, plum, and cherry crop. 



The statistical method may be adopted again by asking 

 each member of the class to examine lOO plums, peaches, 

 or cherries, to discover what proportion of the fruit is 

 affected. Ask the pupils to observe the laying of eggs, 

 which may readily be seen shortly after the fruit has 

 begun to grow in the spring, when peaches are about the 



1 For full account of Trypeta, by F. L. Harvey, see Annual Report of 

 the Maine State College Agricultural ExperimeJtt Statiofi, 1889, pp. 190-237, 

 Plates I-III. 



Fig. 84. Plum Curculio 

 Larva, adult, and mark on the fruit. (Enlarged) 



