332 



PESTS OF ORCHARD AND SMALL FRUITS 



will largely avert injury. The material should be applied thoroughly 

 and with ample force. 



The Plum Curculio {Conotrachelus nenuphar Herbst.) 



. The fruits of plum, apple, and cherry, and sometimes of peach, are 

 subject to injury by tliis pest. Round or crescent-shaped punctures 



are made in the sides of the fruit by 

 the adult beetles in feeding and egg 

 laying. Within the fruit a grub or worm 

 develops. 



The punctures made by the adult are 

 of two sorts. In feeding, the beetle 



Fig. 514. — Egg-laying punc- 

 tures of the Plum Curculio. 

 Slightly enlarged. Original. 



Fig. 515. — The Plum Curculio. Enlarged and 

 natural size. Original. 



gnaws out a small, round hole. When 

 egg laying, it makes a crescent-shaped 

 cut around the point at which it has in- 

 serted its egg in the fruit. These in- 

 juries are especially serious on young 



fruit, causing them to grow gnarly and misshapen. 



The beetle itself is quite small, three sixteenths of an inch in 



length, dark in color with lighter markings, and has four ridges or 



himips on its back. Its mouth parts are at the end of a snout. 



The larva or grub is whitish, one third of an inch long, and entirely 



without feet. 

 The beetles spend the winter in rubbish or similar shelter in or near 



