XXXIV 



Insects and Other Enemies 



HE CURCULIO. This is by 

 far the worst insect enemy of 

 the plum. The curculio (Con- 

 otrachelus nenuphar) is a small 

 insect of the snout-beetle fam- 

 ily. It is a little less than a 

 quarter of an inch long, rough 

 and grayish or almost black. 

 The female begins to lay her 

 eggs in the young fruit as soon as it is formed and con- 

 tinues at her nefarious business for ten days to a 

 month, depending on circumstances, chiefly the 

 weather. She punctures the skin of the plum with her 

 snout, and in the puncture she lays her egg. In front 

 of the puncture she cuts a small crescent-shaped gash, 

 which is supposed to prevent the crushing of the ten- 

 der egg by the swelling of the growing fruit. The egg 

 hatches in from three days to a week, and the small 

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