THE CURCULIO. 79 



been so favorable as it was when the trees were smaller. There is a want of elas- 

 ticity in old trees, that makes it more difficult to give the requisite jar ; probably this 

 accounts for the partial failure this year. My practice at first was the same as usual ; 

 but as soon as I saw so many of the Plums marked I came to the conclusion that 

 merely striking large old trees with a mallet or axe was not enough, and now I use 

 the mop-stick, as seen in PL 7, Fig. 5. 



Caught two Curculios to-day on the same Cherry knots ; also saw two Ichneumon 

 Flies on the same knots. 



X 



May 29. Still get two or three Curculios from the Plum trees. Try them three 

 times a day. I had three Curculios in a small wooden pill-box. I filled the box with 

 a saturated infusion of tobacco, and it was so tight as scarcely to leak. I have but 

 little sympathy for Curculios. It is cruel to shut them in a pill-box at this busy 

 season of the year ; but to fill that box with such an infusion is a refinement of torture 

 that should relieve my character of that lackadaisical reputation I have acquired with 

 some, of being a universal friend to insects. Just at this time I was called to tea. 

 When I returned the pill-box had exploded, and the Curculios had travelled off to 

 parts unknown. To morrow I expect to find them when I jar the Green Gage tree. 

 This was the strongest possible solution of the nastiest kind of tobacco. The 

 experiment was tried over and over again. An infusion of tobacco will not kill the 

 Curculio ! It will be hard to make some people believe this ; still it is so. 



May 31. Get about two Curculios a day from our three Plum trees. 



June i. Bright, hot day. Thermometer at noon 87 in the shade, 107 in the 

 sun. Two Curculios to-day. Have now quite a number. Dissected seven of them, 

 five females and two males. The latter presented nothing worthy of remark ; three 

 of the females contained one egg each, although one of them was found coupled with 

 a male ; another three, and the remaining one nine. Twenty-five eggs are the largest 

 number I have yet found. The assertion of some writers, that they deposit several eggs 

 a day for weeks, is one of that kind of mistakes so liable to occur when people guess 

 at things ; and guessing at conclusions in the insect world is particularly hazardous. 



Visited the old orchard to-day. As the orchard here spoken of is one I shall 

 often have to allude to in the progress of this work, I will here describe it. It contains 

 about thirty acres of land, and is now owned by a company of speculators waiting for 

 a rise in real estate. It is about a mile from the central part of the city, and not yet 

 wanted for building lots. There are about 300 Apple trees still standing, the remains 



