242 THE APPLE CULTUEIST. 



that curculios rarely deposit more than one egg in a plum 

 or apple. 



When the grub has become full-grown, however, it for- 

 sakes the fruit which it has ruined, and burrows from four 

 to six inches in the ground. At this time it is of a glassy, 

 yellowish-white color, though it usually partakes of the col- 

 or of the fruit-flesh on which it was feeding. It is about 

 two-fifths of an inch long, with the head light-brown. In 

 the ground, by turning round and round, it compresses the 

 earth on all sides until it has formed a smooth and oval 

 cavity. Within this cavity, in the course of a few days, it 

 assumes the pupa form, as represented at ,Fig. 90, p. 238. 

 After remaining in the ground in this state for about three 

 weeks, it becomes a beetle, which, though soft and uniform- 

 ly reddish at first, soon assumes its natural colors ; and, 

 when its several parts are sufficiently hardened, works 

 through the soil to the light of day. 



"Playing Possum." The curculio, when alarmed, like 

 many other insects, and especially such as belong to the 

 same great order of beetles (Coleoptera), folds up its legs 

 close to the body,, turns its snout under into a groove which 

 receives it, and drops to the ground. In doing this, it 

 feigns death, so as to escape from threatened danger, and 

 does in reality greatly resemble a dried fruit-bud. It at- 

 tacks, either for purposes of propagation or for food, the 

 nectarine, plum, apricot, peach, cherry, apple, pear, and 

 quince, preferring them in the order of their naming. It is 

 always most numerous, in the early part of the season, on 

 the outside of those orchards that are surrounded with tim- 

 ber. It is also more numerous in timbered regions than 

 on the prairie. We believe all entomologists agree, touch- 

 ing the foregoing habits and natural history of both the 

 Plum Curculio and the Apple Curculio. As already stated, 

 when this insect is alarmed, it gathers up its legs, drops 



