Notes and Gleanings. 375 



If this view thus briefly stated be correct, tlien it would seem to follow that 

 insects examined in the fall, and found to contain no eggs, were really those that 

 had exhausted their bodies of them, and could in no wise afford any proof of the 

 general hibernation in the manner stated. Is it not possible that the insects 

 dissected in the fall were those that had exhausted their ovary, and crawled into 

 places of concealment, there to die, as they are known to do after having finished 

 their work ? 



Entomologists have by experiment shown that a part of the larvae of the 

 curculio undergo a change in from twenty to thirty days. These experiments 

 made by them in jars filled with earth cannot, we tliink, be considered conclu- 

 sive, since the insects thus treated would be in a temperature different from that 

 of the earth at the depth of from one to three feet below the surface. Again : is 

 it not probable that such larvae as had been perfected in the fruit were selected 

 for experiment, whereas not more than one in ten of the punctured plums ever 

 nourish the larvae they contain to become mature grubs ? 



Three dozen curculios captured at the commencement of the season, con- 

 fined and supplied with fruit, ceajed to deposit eggs after the twenty-second day ; 

 when an examination under the microscope showed their ovary to have been 

 entirely exhausted. Single pairs of curculios, confined and treated as above 

 stated, yielded, one nineteen, all others from thirty-seven to fifty-three eggs each; 

 and the longest time in depositing these eggs by any one individual was eighteen 

 days. Where more than one pair of individuals were confined in a case, it was 

 impossible to determine the number of eggs jointly contained by them, since an 

 almost constant warfare was kept up, resulting in the loss of the eggs before they 

 could be placed in the punctures made for their reception. 



We have given the result of our observations, showing that large numbers of 

 curculios remain in the earth during winter, and that their emergence extends 

 through several months, thus keeping up a constant supply of fertile curculios 

 until late in the season. 



According to the theory of hibernation above ground, this could not be. The 

 following table, compiled according to that theory in connection with known 

 facts, would show us to be without fertile curculios for thirty-one days in what is 

 known as the curculio season : — 



First eggs deposited, say May 5. 



Time for eggs to hatch ... 5 days. 



Time for larvs to perfect themselves in fruit ... .20,, 



Time spent by larva under ground .... . . 20 „ 



Time from emergence to laying eggs ....... 8 „ 



Deduct twenty-two days, the latest time of depositing eggs by the 

 insects in confinement, leaves thirty-one days, as above 



To dislodge the curculio, it is the belief of some persons that severe jarring 

 and pounding of the trees is necessary to bring these insects to the ground ; 

 whereas just the reverse of this is the case, as any one may learn by approaching 



