OF FRUIT TREES. 113 



insect of this tribe, to the fruits of this country, of 

 which there is no similar account in Europe, has 

 given rise to a conjecture, with some naturalists, that 

 we have a peculiar and very destructive species in 

 America.* 



" The manner in which this insect injures and des- 

 troys our fruits, is by its mode of propagation. Ear- 

 ly in the spring, about the time when our fruit tree* 

 are in blossom, the curculiones ascend in swarms from 

 the earth, crawl up the trees, and as the several fruits 

 advance, they puncture the rind or skin with their 

 pointed rostra, and deposit their embryos in the 

 wounds thus inflicted. The maggot, thus buried in 

 the fruit, preys upon its pulp and juices until, in most 

 instances, the fruit perishes, falls to the ground, and 

 the insect, escaping from so unsafe a residence, makes 

 a sure retreat into the earth ; where, like other bee- 

 tles, it remains in the form of a grub or worm during 

 the winter, ready to be metamorphosed into a bug or 

 beetle as the spring advances. Thus every tree 

 furnishes its own enemy ; for although these bugs 

 have manifestly the capacity of flying, they appear 

 very reluctant in the use of their wings; and perhaps 

 nev^r employ them, but when necessity compels 

 them to migrate. It is a fact, that two trees of the 

 same kind may stand in the nearest possible neigh- 

 bourhood, not to touch each other, the one have its 

 fruit destroyed by the curculio, and the other be un- 

 injured, merely from contingent circumstances, which 

 prevent the insects from crawling up the one, while 

 they are uninterrupted from climbing the other. 



"The curculio delights most in the smooth skinned 

 stoned fruits, such as nectarines, plums, apricots, &c. 



*This is a bug about the size of that which is found in the 

 pea in its dry stale. No fruit should be suffered to rot under 

 trees, as it is by this means that the Curculio is annually prop- 

 agated. 



