GARDEN INSECTS 



205 



size of hazelnuts. The whole operation takes about five 

 minutes. The beetle first digs an oblique hole in the 

 fruit with her snout, enlarging it at the bottom. She 

 then lays an egg in the mouth of the hole, pushing it to 

 the bottom with her snout. Finally she cuts a crescent- 

 shaped flap around the egg. Her purpose in doing this 

 seems to be to make a dead spot, so that the growing 

 of the fruit at this point will not 

 crush the egg. This crescent is 

 the mark by which to distinguish 

 the curculio's work, and it is ren- 

 dered even more conspicuous by 

 a copious exudation of clear 

 gummy substance from the 

 growing fruit. The larva feeds 

 in the pulp, generally about the 

 stone, and the fruit, except in 

 case of the cherry, falls prema- 

 turely. When the larval growth 

 is attained, in three to five 

 weeks, it burrows out of the 

 fallen fruit and into the ground 

 to a depth of four to six inches. 

 Here it pupates and emerges the 

 same season as the little, rough, brownish beetle shown in 

 Fig. 84. It may be recognized by the elongated hump of 

 what appears to be black sealing wax on each wing cover. 

 The winter is passed in cracks about buildings and in the 

 bark of trees, whence the beetles come forth with the 

 peach and plum blossoms, ready to begin their work of 

 destruction. There is a single brood a year. 



FIG. 85. YOUNG SHOOTS OF 



GRAPE 



a, attacked by plume moth ; ^, for 

 comparison. 



