THE PLUM CURCULIO. 



61 



of the larger varieties, is put up in baskets or crates and sells for 

 from fifty cents to one dollar and twenty-five cents per peck. 



INSECTS. THE PLUM WEEVIL or CURCULIO (Conotrachelus 

 nenuphar). This insect is shown at Fig. 42, which is reproduced 

 here. This one insect, shown at Fig. 49, has done more to des- 



Fig. 49. Reproduced from Fig. 42, Page 42. 



troy the Plum crop of the country than all other causes together. 

 When the fruit is the size of peas, the beetle a, punctures it, as 

 shown at b, Fig. 49, making a crescent-shaped cut, in which it 

 lays an egg. This egg hatches, and the larva or worm enters 

 the fruit and destroys it, as shown at e, Fig. 49. The fruit soon 

 falls off and the worm escapes to the ground, where it makes its 

 cocoon and comes out the following spring. 



Remedy. The beetle is very sensitive to a sudden jar, looses 

 its hold and falls to the ground, remaining with its legs drawn up 

 as if dead until it thinks all danger past, when it attempts to 



Fig. 50. 



get away. Taking advantage of this habit, the trees may be 

 jarred early in the morning and the insects caught upon expanded 

 sheets large enough to extend under all the branches and des- 



