THE CURCULIO. 



of this time the Curculio will be found in this pitching position, and with her pro- 

 boscis entirely buried ; looking as the woodcock does when boring for food in the 

 soft ground. This cavity finished, she turns round and deposits an egg at its orifice ; 

 then assuming the former position, very quietly pushes that egg with her proboscis to 

 its destined place. Next, the crescent-shaped cut is plastered up with a gummy sub- 

 stance that holds the cut edges together for the time being; probably an instinctive 

 precaution against the weather or insect enemies that might endanger the safety of 

 that egg. The female Pea-Bug deposits her egg in a slight wound in the pea-pod, 

 and then covers it over with a tenacious paste. 



Fig. 8 is intended to show an Apple with two Curculio marks perfected, and 

 several others partly finished. Some writers have said that the Curculio never depo- 

 sits more than one egg in a fruit ; but this is a mistake. Two or more grubs will 

 often be found ; but these instances of so many marks so early in the season are 

 rare except in the apple, and, if examined, most of them will be found unfinished 

 and containing no eggs. 



Those parasitic insects that introduce their eggs into the living bodies of 

 other insects, graduate the number so deposited according to the quantity of 

 food the body of that insect will afford the young from those eggs, so that each 

 shall have enough to bring it to full maturity. The instinct that teaches this 

 knowledge is unerring. A large Ichneumon Fly will not deposit an egg in a 

 caterpillar too small to afford the requisite amount of food, but she will select 

 one that will just yield enough, and none to spare. If the caterpillar is of such 

 a size as to feed two, three, or more, two, three, or more eggs will be deposited 

 in it. 



The Curculio probably has a similar instinct. A young apple or peach, dry 

 and withered, and not larger than a hazel-nut, will be found containing the grub of 

 a Curculio full grown, plump, and active, with no part of that apple or peach left 

 that could be used for fruit; but it would be hard to find two half-grown grubs in 

 such a fruit, and with nothing more to eat. 



Fig. Q is an Apple that was left some time in a bottle with a colony of Curcu- 

 lios, and the number of punctures shows that instinct ceases to be a guide under 

 such circumstances. This apple was one of three that had been coated over with 

 the " whale-oil soap " mixture, which, with three other apples taken fresh from 



