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HORTICULTURE FOR SCHOOLS 



and forming, wherever an egg is laid, a little crescent-shaped 

 mark. The egg hatches into a little footless larva or grub, 

 whitish in color and about one-third of an inch long. This 

 larva feeds in the fruit until fully grown, when it transforms 

 into the pupal stage, later developing into the adult beetle. 

 The insect hibernates as an adult in rubbish near trees where 

 it feeds. In the early spring when the buds are unfolding, more 



FIG. 120. The plum gouger and its work, showing injured 

 blossoms and fruits, larva and adult. 



or less feeding is done by the beetles on the tender tissues of 

 the leaves. One female lays from one to three hundred eggs. 

 Control of this pest is best accomplished by means of an 

 arsenical spray which must be used at least three times in 

 the season. The first application for codlin-moth or apple- 

 worm also serves to destroy large numbers of the adult plum 

 curculio beetles. A spray three weeks later, which is also 



