INSECTS INJURIOUS TO PEACH, PLUM AND CHERRY 591 



It is about one-quarter inch long, with a snout half as long, 

 the wing-covers are a leaden-gray color, finely spotted with 

 black and brown, while the 

 thorax and head are marked 

 with ochreous yellow. 



Life History. Like the cur- 

 culio, the beetles hibernate over 

 winter and appear in the spring 

 as the trees blossom. At first 

 they puncture the calyx and feed 

 on the ovary of the flower, com- 

 pletely destroying it for fruit pro- 

 duction, and then puncture the 

 growing plums, both for food 

 and for egg-laying. In feeding 

 on the plums the adults gouge out 

 small round holes, from which gum 

 exudes. Like the curculios, they FIG. 519. The plum gouger (Cocco- 

 have the habit of feigning death * SSS$*& 3 & 

 and dropping to the ground when b, adult; c, side view- of head of 

 disturbed. The eggs are laid beetle enlarged. (After Riley 



, ., ,, , < ,1 i x-ii and Howard, U. S. Dept. Agr.) 

 while the pit of the plum is still 



soft. The female beetle drills a small hole which is larger below, 

 in the plum, and in it deposits a small yellowish-white egg, 

 whose outer end lies flush with the surface of the plum. As soon 

 as the larva hatches it eats its way into the pit, feeding upoji the 

 meat of the seed until full grown. It then eats a hole through 

 the outside of the pit so that the adult beetle may escape, and 

 then transforms to a pupa. The larva is very similar to that of 

 the curculio, but is a milky white rather than a glossy white and 

 lacks the reddish tinge on the lower surface. Affected plums do 

 not drop as when injured by the curculio. The pupal stage is 

 passed in the pit of the plum and the adult beetle emerges through 

 the hole cut for it by the larva. The beetles emerge a little before 

 the plums ripen and often practically destroy them, as fruit badly 

 punctured becomes gnarly and worthless. The beetles feed on the 

 plums a short time and then seek hibernating quarters for the winter. 

 Control. Control measures have not been thoroughly tested, 

 but where the beetles are abundant it would be well to try spray- 

 ing with arsenate of lead as advised for the curculio. 



