12 



THE AMERICAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



5th. All late varieties of the peach, although 

 they are often stmig by the curculio, fail to \ 

 develop the egg; or else, if the egg hatches out, ! 

 the larva perishes when very young. 



I assured myself of the correctness of these j 

 last two statements by examining in each case 

 many scores of specimens, not only at this 

 period, and near Alton, but elsewhere and 

 subsequently. I therefore have but little doubt 

 that Dr. Hull is also right as regards the first 

 three statements, although 1 had no opportunity 

 to verify them. In fact I find him so thorough 

 and accurate an observer, that I would rather 

 take his opinion on any matter respecting the 

 habits of fruit insects, than that of any other 

 unprofessional man with whom I am acquainted. 



Immediately after breakfast, and while insects 

 are still dull and sluggish in the cool of the 

 morning, we go out to see the practical opera- 

 tions of the celebrated " Curculio-catcher," in- 

 vented and for many years back used by Dr. 

 Hull. As I have elsewhere explained, this is 

 nothing but a gigantic white umbrella, turned 

 bottom upwards, mounted upon an immense 

 wheelbarrow, and split in front to receive the 

 trunk of the tree which is to be operated uptn. 

 At the interior end of the split in front is a 

 padded bumper, wliich strikes against the trunk 

 as the operator wheels the barrow, first against 

 one tree and then against another, and with 

 two or three sudden jars fetches all the insects 

 ofl' the boughs into the white umbrella which 

 gapes widely open to receive them. Really it is 

 a most magnificent institution : but for its 

 practical success three things are necessary ; 1st, 

 that the land should be decently clean and not 

 overgrown with rank weeds, four or five teet 

 high; 2d, that the orchard be a sutHcientl>- large 

 one to pay the interest on tlie prime cost of the 

 machine — about $30 ; 3d, that the trees have a 

 clean trunk of some three or four feet, instead 

 of belonging to the new-fangled, heretical, low- 

 top, branch-out-of-the-ground persuasion. 



Every wheie among Dr. Hull's pears, and 

 cherries, and plums, and peaches, and nectarines, 

 and apricots, the ground is nicely cultivated, 

 and between every two rows of trees there is a 

 straight, well worn track made by the wheel of 

 the curculio catcher, with a side track, at right 

 angles to the main track, leading to every tree. 

 But the apple orchard has been sadly neglected 

 and allowed to run to weeds. Mine host is 

 proposing to set hands to work immediately to 

 mow down these weeds, and is congratulating 

 liiinscHiipon a discovery tliat he has just made, 

 uaniely, that a tall hcinp-like weed, about five 



or six feet high, which grows in exuberant pro- 

 fusion among his apple trees, bears the local 

 name of " horse weed," and makes excellent 

 liay for horses ! I hope that the discovery may 

 prove to be what Mark Twain calls a •' fructify- 

 ing" one. 



I find the "curculio catcher" an excellent 

 mode of collecting insects by wholesale, seeing 

 that it is nothing but what entomologists call 

 "beating," carried out upon a gigantic scale. 

 Besides a lot of the genuine plum curculio, we 

 captui-e four specimens of a closely allied species 

 of the same genus, which is pretty common in 

 Northern Illinois (the avagly2iticuH of Say). 

 Dr. Hull tells me that it operates upon plums 

 like its ally, but thinks that it nuikes no 

 "crescent cut" in puncturing the fruit. We 

 take also very numerous specimens of a roundish 

 leaf beetle, about one-eighth inch long, gener- 

 ally of a steel blue color, but occasionally verg- 

 ing upon brassy brown. {Colaspis, II. ii\).'i) Al- 

 though this insect does not have its hind thighs 

 thickened, and consequently cannot jump like 

 the well-known steel-blue " flea beetle of the 

 grape vine, yet I find that it is very generally 

 mistaken here for that insect. According to 

 Dr. Hull, it occurs in the jarring process, near 

 Alton, in about the same numbers as my plum 

 gouger. Another insect belonging to the same 

 genus, and of the same shape and make, but 

 nearly twice as large and of a brassy brown 

 color (the Colmpis prmtexta of Say), we capture 

 in very considerable numbers. Both are, no 

 doubt," to a certain extent, injurious by feediuo- 

 upon the leaves, and should therefore be devoted 

 to destruction, if convenient, along with the 

 snout beetles or curculios. 



Noticing a specimen or two of a true bug be- 

 longing to the same group {Cvrens family) as 



HaK,>h 



tristis, 

 1 bug 



s (juitc familiar 

 vcrv abundant 



the 



De(iccl), Mini lli^ 

 (jy/,r.V'"^ /r>n;.,./n 



Dr. Hull, and hr lell 

 ■with it, antl that it i 

 near Alton, and r\uu> ilir \i\n\- of pear trees 

 that are late in slartini;. 1>\ rc|icatc(lly punctur- 

 ing Ihcui with its beak. Xrar l!ocl< Island, it 

 is one ofllii' coiimioiic^t bu,li^■^ that we liiivo, and 

 that our rcadciv ia:i_\- know it when they see it, 

 we aniK.'xu magnified figure, (Fig. ti, ")• (It is a 

 species of lihopalus allied to the hiteru/i.s of 

 Say, but distinct.) 



[FiS 0] 



