THE CURCULIO. 493 



made this aperture, it drops in one egg. From this 

 is hatched a maggot, which feeds on the flesh around 

 the core or stone, and appears during the latter 

 part of July as a beetle, like its parent. Not only 

 does it deposit its eggs in the fruits above named, 

 but also in the soft substance of the plum-wart, or 

 knot. It also pierces little holes in the bark with 

 its beak, like the puncture of a pin, by which it 

 draws the sap. What becomes of the beetle be- 

 tween this time and the spring has been a mystery. 

 Dr. Harris says, through the spring, beetles come 

 forth from larvae which were retarded in growth, 

 so that they remain in the ground as pupae all 

 winter. Dr. Fitch very properly remarks, that the 

 earth is warmer during the month of August than 

 it is in July, and an insect whose transformations 

 under ground are completed in three weeks in July, 

 would not remain in the earth during the whole 

 month of August. He says, these beetles, perfected 

 in July, deposit eggs in the soft bark of the young 

 wood, particularly in that of the butternut ; that 

 these eggs are hatched, and become maggots, which 

 eat out a space so as to form a little cavity, where 

 they remain during the winter, and come forth in 

 the spring. He found that a fly, somewhat resem- 

 bling the gall-fly, gives birth to a parasite which 

 preys upon the curculio. It is furnished at the tip 

 of the abdomen with a very sharp, bristle-like sting, 



with which it penetrates the skin of the larva of the 

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