562 INSECT PESTS OF FARM, GARDEN AND ORCHARD 



is about the same size as the plum curculio, but more reddish- 

 brown in color, the abdomen is more robust, and the wing-covers 

 bear four prominent humps, the anterior being much larger than 

 those on the plum curculio. The snout of the apple curculio is 



as long as the rest of the body 

 and is held straight forward from 

 the head, instead of hanging 

 down as does the snout of the 

 plum curculio. The work of the 

 apple curculio is also different 

 in that after laying the egg in a 

 small cavity in the fruit, on 

 crescent-shaped mark is made 

 around it. The apple curculio is 

 a native species which breeds 

 in wild haw, wild crab, and 

 wild cherry, and has been reared 

 in plum, quince and pear. 

 "It has been reported from 

 Connecticut and Ontario south to 

 North Carolina and westward as 

 far as New Mexico. It seems 

 to have been more troublesome 

 in Missouri, Illinois and other 

 mid-western States than else- 

 where," but has never done any- 

 thing like the injury due to the 

 plum curculio and can hardly be 

 regarded as a serious pest. 

 FIG. 499.-Work of the apple curculio; Uf #^ on/ ._ The beetles 

 a, a', c, c', feeding punctures from J y t 



the surf ace and in section; 6, 6', egg commence laying eggs in the 

 punctures from the surface and in f ru jt soon after the blossoms drop 

 section. (After C. S. Crandall.) andcontinuefor a per iod of sixty 



days, an individual female laying about 65 eggs. The eggs 

 hatch in about five days and the larva? feed on the flesh of the 

 apple for about twenty days, when they transform to pupae within 

 the fruit. A week later the beetles emerge, but feed very little during 

 the late summer before they enter hibernation for the winter, 

 most of them leaving the trees by the latter part of August. 



