CHERRY INSECTS 



C. R. CROSBY 

 Extension Professor of Entomology, Cornell University, Ithaca, N. Y. 



The most important insects attacking 

 the cherry are the plum curculio, the 

 die IT v fruit-flies, the cherry plant-louse, 

 the pear slug, and, in the case of sweet 

 cherries, the San Jose scale. In the sum- 

 mer of 1915 there was an unusual out- 

 break of the red cherry leaf beetle, an 

 insect that normally feeds on the wild 

 cherry and only occasionally attacks the 

 cultivated varieties. 



THE PLUM CURCULIO 



Plum curculio (Coiiotraclielus nenuphar) is the principal cause 

 <>)' knotty mid wormy cherries. It is also a serious 'enemy of the 

 j tin 111, prune, peach, and apple. 



The adult plum curculio is a small, rough snout beetle, about 

 one-fifth inch in length, mottled with black, gray, and brownish 

 ( Fig. 368). On the middle of each wing cover is a black shining 

 hump. The small, sharp jaws are situated at the tip of the snout 

 which hangs down somewhat like the trunk of an elephant. The 

 beetles pass the winter hidden away in stone piles, stone walls, in 

 edges, and under trash, in sheltered 

 places. They come out. of hibernation in 

 the spring about the time the buds arc 

 bursting. As soon as the fruit sets, the 

 heetles hcii'in their destructive work. Two 

 kinds of punctures are made: those for 

 feeding only, and those for the reception of 

 the egg. In feeding the beetle cuts a small 

 round hole through the skin of the fruit and then eats out a cavity 

 in the pulp as deep as it can reach with its snout. In egg laying 



[1143] 



FIG. 368. PLUM CUR- 

 CULIO ADULT 



(Photo by Slingerland.) 



