Observatioiis on the Pea Fly^ ^c, 321 



do this mischief, but in that of the caterpillar or worm. 

 In the spring when the yomig fruit is about half grown 

 or younger, the female is furnished with a sharp spatula 

 or gauge at the extremity of her abdomen, somewhat 

 like the point of a lancet, with which she pierces the 

 rind of the tender green fruit, at the same instant depo- 

 siting an ^^^ or knit just under the raised cuticle of the 

 wound, which is like to that made by the nib of a pen. 

 This ^g^ soon hatches, and the little larva immediately 

 eats inward, descending to the stone or kernel of the fruit, 

 round about which it feeds, between it and the pulpy- 

 rind, or enters the kernel, which is yet very tender and 

 delicate ; but in this last circumstance, the destroyer ge= 

 nerally falls a victim to his own intemperance and' glut- 

 tony, for such fruit generally drop before they are half 

 ripe, and consequently before the metamorphosis of the 

 grub, but such as feed only on the interior pulp round 

 about the stone, continue on the tree until the ripening 

 of the fruit, and thus live out their time. When the fruit 

 drops off, the worm creeps out, enters the earth, and the 

 following spring becomes a beetle or curculio. About 

 the time of the setting of the young fruit, they creep 

 out of the earth, ascend or fiy into the trees, copulate, 

 and are then attentive only to the work of generation. 



Such is the prolific nature of this insect, that each 

 female lays many hundred eggs, and a few flies are abun- 

 dantly sufficient to destroy the fruit of a large tree. 



Many methods have been thought of and practised 

 to remedy the evil, but none have as yet been attended 

 with success, perhaps through want of perseverance. 



During my travels southward, (from Pennsylvania to 

 Florida,) I had sufficient opportunities to observe that 



r 3 



