340 TRANSACTIONS OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 



upon fruit ; lately we have paid more attention to its habits of 

 life; have not only sumraered, but wintered with it. 



The larva (or worm we find in fruit) when full grown, eats its 

 way through the skin, and immediately penetrates the ground. 

 If the earth is sandy or loose, it will sometimes go to the depth 

 •of eight inches, and seldom less tljan three or four; there it pre- 

 pares for itself a kind of cell, something similar to the cell of 

 the mud-wasp, and this is its cocoon ; here it undergoes its meta- 

 morphosis. In a few weeks the white maggot, Avithout wings or 

 legs,' will be a black beetle, ready either to run or fly. If you 

 have them in confinement, you may feed them with leaves or any 

 of the fruits, and you may see that they eat, though very spar- 

 ingly. You will generally find them perfectly quiet, but touch 

 them, and instantly they are full of life. This will be the case 

 all winter if you keep them in a warm situation ; but out of doors 

 in our climate, they are perfectly dormant. Where the vast 

 army of curculios pass the winter, it is hard to say positively, 

 but we have found them in the crevices of the rough bark of 

 trees, in walls, and even under the shingles on the roofs of 

 buildings. 



We have often supplied the young curculio with fruits, but 

 have never known them puncture them, or make the crescent 

 mark ; hence, we infer, that the opinion of some that we have 

 two generations the same year, is a mistake. 



Those who cultivate the apricot know that it blossoms several 

 days before the other fruit trees, and the. young fruit grows very 

 rapidly from the start, but we have never seen this fruit so early 

 but wdiat the curculio was ready to pounce upon it as soon as it 

 was large enough to bear the puncture ; consequently, the cur- 

 culio is ready to deposit eggs many days before any of the fruits 

 except the apricot are large enough for her, and during this pe- 

 riod of waiting we have seen her, or some other beetle so near 

 like her that our experienced eye could detect no difference, 

 m-.iking the crescent mark on the bark of the twigs of the plum 

 tree themselves, and that led to the subsequent investigations 

 that proved to our satisfaction that the curculio causes the black 

 knot also. 



In some places but little inconvenience is suffered from the 

 curculio. When w^e have had the opportunity of investigating, 

 we have found 'the soil a stiff clay, and conclude tliat the larva 

 w^as not able to penetrate deep enou h to be secure either ir^m 



