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telligence. The beetle, having selected the spot where an egg 



is to be placed, attacks the plum at that spot with its snout, 



working this in until a hole has been made, and at the bottom 



of the hole deposits an egg. This egg is 



very small and also very delicate, while 



the flesh of the plum at this time is very 



firm, and as the fruit grows rapidly the 



hole would soon close up and the egg 



would be crushed if the process ended 



Plum ourcuiio. ^^ ^j^-^ ^^-^^^^ rj.^^ curcullo Rppcars to 



appreciate this, and to prevent such a result at once proceeds 

 to cut a slit like a crescent in the plum close by the egg. 

 The flesh of the fruit between the hole and the slit is in this 

 way so far cut off from the remainder of the plum that in- 

 stead of remaining hard it wilts and becomes soft, and in 

 this way all pressure and consequent crushing of the egg 

 is prevented. After an egg has thus been deposited and pro- 

 tected from destruction the beetle moves off to repeat the 

 process elsewhere, each female laying from 50 to 100 eggs. 



The eggs hatch in a week or so, and each little grub thus 

 produced works into the plum till it reaches the stone, 

 around which it feeds until it has reached its full size, which 

 usually requires about three weeks. During this period the 

 puncture and slit on the surface have nearly always become 

 at least partly covered by gum which has escaped from these 

 places, the gum accordingly marking where the curculio has 

 been at work ; while the feeding of the grvib around the stone 

 very often injures the plum so that it falls off at about this 

 time. 



This dropping of infested plums is very convenient for the 

 grubs in them, for when these are full grown they generally 

 find themselves on the ground with the fruit, which they now 

 leave, working their way into the soil a short distance, where 

 they pupate and after about a month reappear, now as the 

 adult beetle. If the plum has not fallen the same thing hap- 

 pens, except that the grub falls alone instead of inside the 

 fruit. How the adult beetles pass the fall is not known, but, 

 as they are not noticed on the trees at this time except per- 



