34 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO FRUIT. 







attention to the science, and will certainly not give sufficient information to enable 

 him to save his fruit crops from this terrible enemy. My description is addressed to 

 the eye. Look at the first figure on this Plate. Examine it carefully. That is the 

 Curculio the Plum Weevil the Turk the Little Joker, that I am making such a 

 fuss about. 



The sad effects of the Curculio upon the fruits, as shown in the preceding 

 Plates, will prepare the reader to understand what a terrible evil it is, and he will be 

 " likely to study this Plate with greater interest than if it had been the first of the 

 series illustrating this insect. 



Of the four hundred thousand species of insects known to naturalists, the Cur- 

 culio or Plum Weevil is the most important. Other insects are often more destruc- 

 tive for a time, but their ravages are transient, most of them being brought to a 

 sudden end by natural causes. The Curculio has increased constantly since it was 

 first noticed by fruit-growers, during the latter half of the last century, and is now 

 found in nearly all the settled parts of North America, except the States on the 

 Pacific Coast. It spreads with the settlement of the country, and increases with the 

 multiplication of fruit trees. It has never yet been controlled in an appreciable 

 degree by human agencies. Parasitic enemies cannot reach it. Vicissitudes of 

 weather, except in localities and for a short time, have never checked it. It is 

 marching on, " conquering and to conquer," unless there shall be concerte'd intelli- 

 gence, and concerted effort to stop it. 



Almost every person who owns a fruit-tree suffers more or less from this insect 

 enemy. The fruit-growers lose a part of every crop every year, and the fruit-con- 

 sumers get less than half that the same money would buy, it" it were not for the 

 Curculio. As a liberal supply of fruit adds greatly to the health and comfort of the 

 people in all countries, but especially in a climate so heated as ours, the loss thus 

 sustained is a serious matter. 



We have no data upon which it would be possible to calculate the amount of 

 damage caused every year by this insidious enemy, but we may safely estimate it by 

 millions of dollars. A single living Curculio weighs a quarter of a grain, and it 

 therefore takes about twenty-eight thousand to make a pound. If we take three 

 quarter-ounce vials, and put 100 Curculios in one, 100 Pea-Bugs in another, and 100 

 grains of buckwheat in the third, each will appear about half full, and they will all 



