Sko. 12.1 



ENTOMOLOGICAL. 



215 



appearance remains, bnt the outside is a dried skin inclosing the pupa, which 

 advances to perfection in April or May, and it is these early flie-s that lay 

 eggs upon spring wheat. It is asserted that there are three broods in a year. 

 The fly is about tlie tenth of an inch long ; the head, antenna;, and thorax, 

 black ; the iiind body tawny, tlie wings tawny at the base, and black and 

 hairy at the ends, expanding about a quarter of an inch. The legs are pale, 

 red, or brown, and feet black. The antennaa arc jointed, and surrounded 

 with whorls of short hairs. 



"With the above short description and microscope in hand, it will not be 

 difficult for any observing person to determine the character of an insect 

 found upon his wheat, so as to decide whether it is the Hessian-fly or the 

 Hessian-fly destroyer. 



249. Insects Injurious to Fruits.— Probably of all the tribe of pests that 

 infest fruit-trees, that known as curculio, or plum weevil {RInjneJuenus 

 nenuphai'), does the most damage. It has nearly driven the plum-trees 

 away from every farm, and has in some seasons destroyed tlie peaches, and 

 done incalculable damage to the apple crop. In fact, for many years pre- 

 vious to ISGO, tliere was not a good apple croj) in ail the Eastera States, 

 owing, in a great measure, to the curculio. Small as this pest is, it is capable 

 of doing great mischief to all the fruits, and its sting is death to plums, 

 apricots, and nectarines, and very injurious to cherries and pears. The liner 

 the fruit, the greater the injury. A very hardy plum or cherry niay survive 

 a sting from this insect, which leaves a peculiar, crescent-shaped wound, and 

 makes an ugly scar and a hard gnarl in the fairest fruit. 



Tin's insect is found in nearly all the States of the Union ; it is worst in 

 the Middle ones, or between latitudes 39^ and 41°. 



Dy the folloM-ing minute description by Glover, the little villain may be 

 known by any one, though not jireviously acquainted with him: 



"The perfect curculio is about two tenths of an inch in lengtli, of a dark 

 brown color, with a spot of yellowish white on the hind part of each wing- 

 case. The head is furnished with a long, curved snout, or bill, with which 

 it is enabled to bore into the unripe fruit by means of jaws placed at the 

 end of the bill. The wing-cases, which are rigid, uneven, and humped, 

 cover two transparent whigs, by which the perfect weevil is enabled to tly 

 from tree to tree; but when these wing-cases are closed, the back appears 

 without any suture, or division, which has led to the very erroneous idea 

 among farmers that the insect can not fly. "When disturbed, or shaken from 

 the tree, it is so similar in appearance to a firied bud, tliat it can scarcely be 

 distinguished, especially when feigning death, which it always does when 

 alarmed. As soon as the plums are of the size of peas, the weevil com- 

 mences the work of destruction by making a semi-circular cut througli the 

 skin with her long, curved snout, in the a])ex of which she deposits a single 

 egg. She then goes to anotlier jduni, which is treated in a similar manner, 

 until she has exliaustcd her wiu.ic stock of eggs. Tiie grubs, which are 

 hatched by the heat of the sun, immediately cat their way to the stone in an 



