The CurcuUo and Codlinsc Moth. 257 



't) 



chrysalis state and remain until the following season in a 

 torpid condition. I have produced the perfect insect from 

 the larva) which were found in the apple, peach, and cherry. 

 In about four weeks the larvae attain their full size, and are 

 then known as the cherry and peach worm, generally so 

 called, and also the small apple worm ; and they are the cause 

 of the cherry and peach rot by their late punctures. Res- 

 pecting the habits of this insect, I have noticed that they 

 commence their attacks on the fruit from the Ji?'st to the 

 tenth of June. I have seen them as late as the 1st Septem- 

 ber, but have not discovered fresh punctures later than the 

 20th July ; and I am inclined to believe, that those which 

 are seen later are of the new crop, which have been disturbed 

 accidentally in the earth. 



I ascertained the increase of the curculio by placing a male 

 and female under a glass vessel, and giving them one plum a 

 day for thirty-six days. They deposited, upon an average, 

 about eight eggs per day, and they ceased depositing them 

 about the same time that the punctures ceased upon tlie fruit 

 on the trees. They go through their chrysalis state in three 

 weeks after going into the ground, and remain in a torpid 

 state through the season unless the earth is disturbed. I pro- 

 duced ten of the perfect insects, which are little black beetles, 

 from the larvas, and fed them until the 1st of January with 

 apple. The larvae which were in the fruit were placed upon 

 a surface of earth in a glass vessel, and after eating three 

 weeks, they left the apple and bored their way into the earth 

 to the depth of three or four inches, and there formed a 

 little home where they cast their skin, and in about three 

 weeks the perfect beetle was formed ; they lay dormant in 

 this state until I disturbed them ; some I took from the earth 

 the 1st of August and others on the 1st of October. 



The mechanical performance of this little beetle should 

 not pass without notice. In making her nest and laying her 

 eggs in the fruit, she exhibits an instinct that is truly wonder- 

 ful : with her snout or proboscis she punctures the fruit in 

 the shape of a semi-circle, to the depth of one-tenth of an 

 inch, upon an angle of about forty-five degrees ; and then 



VOL. XVI. NO. VI. 33 



