112 INSECTS AFFECTING THE PEAR AND QUINCE 



kill many of the nymphs in the soil. This treatment is said to be 

 very successful in prune orchards of California. Two sprayings 

 with nicotine sulfate, as recommended for the pear psylla, are 

 advised. The first is made when the buds are on the point of 

 opening and the second immediately after the petals fall. A white- 

 wash spray is also used in California. 



Quince Curculio (Conotrachelus cratcegi Walsh). Quince fruit 

 is frequently made ill-shapen by attacks of this weevil. It works 

 upon the quince in much the same way as the plum curculio works 

 upon the plum and apple, but it does not make the crescent-like 

 cut beside the egg puncture. Further, unlike its congener men- 

 tioned, it will develop even when the affected fruit does not drop 

 to the ground. The white, footless grub burrows into the soil 

 and remains in the larval stage until the following spring, trans- 

 forming then to a pupa; and in ten or twenty days it changes to 

 an adult. The latter is about one-quarter of an inch long, and is 

 brownish gray. 



Control Measures. Destruction of windfalls and picking and 

 destroying infected and misshapen fruit are recommended. Jar- 

 ring beetles on to sheets spread below the trees is also practiced. 

 The beetles are gathered up and destroyed. 



The False Tarnished Plant Bug (Lygus invitus Say). This 

 plant bug looks much like the true tarnished plant bug, and in- 

 jures the fruit by puncturing it. A spray of nicotine sulfate 

 as recommended elsewhere in this chapter, immediately after all 

 petals have fallen, is efficacious. 



The Pear and Cherry Slug. This slug attacks both the pear 

 and the cherry. The discussion is given under cherry insects, 

 page 129. 



QUESTIONS 



1. What insects affect the pear which are also found on the apple? 



2. Describe and give remedial treatment for the pear-tree psylla. 



3. The same for the sinuate pear borer. 



4. The same for the quince curculio. 



