INSECTS INJURIOUS TO FRUITS. 



61 



and larger branches of peach trees from the middle to the last 

 of summer in the North. The eggs soon hatch and the larva 

 works into the trees, which exude a quantity of clear, jelly- 

 like gum that is often mixed with borings. The borer lives 

 in the tree about one year. 



Remedies. Carefully inspect the trees in autumn and spring, 

 just below as well as above the ground, and remove all borers 

 with a small pointed knife. Wrapping the trunks with stout 

 paper or wire screen during the egg-laying period is recom- 

 mended. 



Other insects attacking the peach are several kinds of 

 aphis and curculio. For each of these see similar heads included 

 under "Insects injurious to the apple and plum." 



Insects Injurious to the Plum. 



Plum Curculio (Conotrachelus nenuphar). This is the insect 

 which causes the plums to prematurely ripen and drop to the 



ground. It is not nearly so 

 destructive to our native 

 plums as to those of Eu- 

 ropean origin (Prunus do- 

 mestica). The latter are 

 often so badly infested that 

 none of the fruit comes to 

 full maturity. While our 

 native plums are stung 

 just as much by the cur- 

 culio as the European 

 Fig. 22. Plums injured by Curculio, plum, but few of the eggs 



showing scars, also enlarged cm 



Qf 



curculio dev elo P 



into the grub in this fruit, probably on account of its rapid growth. 

 This insect is a small, rough, grayish or blackish beetle, about one- 

 fifth of an inch long, with a black shining lump on the middle of 

 each wing and behind this a more or less distinct band of a dull 

 yellow color with some whitish marks about the body and with a 

 rather short snout. The female lays her eggs in the young, green 

 fruit shortly after it is formed. Then she cuts a circle around 

 the portion of the fruit in which the eggs are laid to prevent it 



