506 INSECT PESTS OF FARM, GARDEN AND ORCHARD 



has given it the very apt name of " little Turk." The female 

 first eats out a small hole with her stout snout, and deposits 

 a small, oval, white egg in the cavity. She then cuts a small 



segment of the skin 

 and flesh around it so 

 that the growth of the 

 fruit will not crush the 

 egg, the whole opera- 

 tion taking from fifteen 

 to thirty minutes. The 

 life of the female aver- 

 ages about two months, 

 during which time she 

 will lay 100 to 300 eggs 

 and probably make as 

 many more feeding 

 punctures. The punc- 

 tures made by the adults of both sexes in feeding are simple 

 round holes like those in which the eggs are laid, but without 



FIG. 432. The plum curculio (Conotrachelus 

 nenuphar Herbst.): a, larva; b, beetle; c, 

 pupa all much enlarged. (After Chitten- 

 den, U. S. Dept. Agr.) 



1 2 



FIG. 433. 1, young plums showing crescent-shaped egg punctures of the 

 plum curculio; 2, adult curculio on young peach four times natural 

 (After Quaintance, U. S. Dept, Agr.) 



size. 



the crescent marks. Frequently gum exudes from punctures on 

 the stone fruits. 



The. egg hatches in from three to five days and the young 

 larva bores into the fruit until grown, usually feeding around the ' 



