ENTOMOLOGY 49 



first picking begins. If only two treatments can be given, the first 

 and second of the above schedule should be given. See the Apple 

 Insects. (U. S. D. A., B. E. Bui. 97, part II.) 



QUINCE INSECTS. 



A Quince Mealy-Bug. A quince orchard near Geneva was 

 found to be infested, early in April, with numbers of little plant- 

 louse-like bugs. Nearly all of the trees showed some of the tiny, 

 powder-covered, soft-bodied, wingless bugs; but none of them were 

 so infested as to be perceptibly injured. These bugs are quite similar 

 in structure and feeding habits to the plant lice; but unlike the lice, 

 they are produced from eggs, and their mature form is not- unlike 

 that first hatched, except that the larvae at first are pink in color, 

 while the adults are white from their covering of powaer. The eggs 

 are laid along in late June and early July, and are placed in a dou- 

 ble-walled cocoon of silk. 



As these bugs are soft bodied and live openly on the twigs dur- 

 ing spring and early summer, they can easily be controlled by spray- 

 ing with whale-oil soap solution, 1 to 5. The arsenites would have 

 no effect, as, like all bugs, these meal-coated ones draw their food 

 from beneath the surface. Where there is loose bark, scraping the 

 trunks and branches to uncover the insects and egg cocoons, and 

 painting the wood in winter with strong whale-oil-soap solution will 

 be of benefit. (Bui. 24 Mich. Agr. Exp. Sta.) 



The Quince Curculio. Like all beetles, this quince curculio 

 passes through four different stages during its life trie egg, larva or 

 grub, pupa, and the adult or beetle. It is injurious to the quince in 

 two of its stages. The beetles sting the fruits, forming many of the 

 familiar knotty places, and wormy quinces are the work of the grubs 

 or larvse. Quince growers should thus familiarize themselves with 

 these two stages of the insect. The other stages the egg and pupa 

 are discussed later on in connection with the story of the life of the 

 pest. The beetle is somewhat larger than the common plum curculio, 

 lias a comparatively longer snout, and is very broad-shouldered. Its 

 general color is of a rather uniform brownish gray, mottled more or 

 less with white, especially on the thorax. 



The larva is a fleshy, maggot-like, footless grub of a semi-trans- 

 parent, light flesh color. Its head is dark brown, with the horny 

 jaws darker, and there is a lighter brown, shield-like area on the back 

 of the first thoracic segment. The long dreary months are spent by 

 the grub in a little earthen cavity or cell two or three inches below 

 the surface. After leaving the fruit in the fall, the grub burrows its 

 way into the soil and there forms its winter home by rolling and 

 twisting its body around and thus packing the earth back, leaving a 

 small, oval, smooth-walled cell in which its winter nap is undisturbed 

 by the elements above. 



With the warmth of the spring-time the grubs begin their des- 

 tined transformations necessary to complete their life cycle. Won- 

 derful changes take place beneath the grub's skin which is finally 

 cast off and a form, quite unlike the grub, known a.s the pupa 

 appears, From 10 to 20 days are spent by this insect in the spring 



