1 86 DESTRUCTIVE INSECTS. 



whitish marks near the middle. These curculios hibernate in 

 any sheltered location, as in hedge-rows, rubbish piles, old 

 stone-walls, or a near-by forest ; in consequence of this, fruit- 

 growers often notice that the portion of their orchard nearest 



FIG. 252. The Plum Curculio. Adult ; larva ; pupa ; all enlarged. 



such places suffers the most from the insect. The curculios 

 come from their hiding places soon after the fruits are set, or 

 when they are not larger than peas, and soon egg-laying 

 begins. 



This is an interesting operation. Alighting on a fruit, the 

 mother beetle, with her jaws, 



/? > \ which are situated at the end 



M J of the long snout, makes a 



^^^jM small cut through the skin of 



Iny! ^^^ the fruit and runs her snout ob- 



^^ ^^ liquely into the flesh just under 



/* ^k I the skin and gouges out a cavity 



^J large enough to receive her 



^^^^^^^^^B egg. Then turning around, an 



^b egg is dropped into the hole, 



ly and again turning, she pushes 



it into the cavity with her 



FIG. 2 53 . The Plum Curcuiio's Cres- snout. Just in front of this hole 



cent Mark on a Cherry, natural ^ mother nQW deftly makes 



a crescent - shaped slit (Fig. 



253), which she extends obliquely underneath the egg- 

 cavity so as to leave the egg in a sort of a flap of flesh, 

 apparently her object being to prevent the growth of the 

 fruit from crushing her very tender egg. This whole opera- 

 tion requires about five minutes. One female is said to de- 

 posit from fifty to one hundred eggs a few each day. One 



