218 



THE AMERICAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



over and the fruit remains sound, as you will 

 see by the specimens sent herewith. I have 

 examined scores of them in a large orchard, 

 and from several varieties, and have found one 

 worm only." 



Mr. Wilgus sent us four peaches, containing 

 in all eight Curculio cuts more or less grown 

 over. In one of the eight tlie egg had hatched 

 and the larva after burrowing a short dislancc 

 had perislicd ; in another one there was a fine 

 healthy Curculio larva, about one-third grown; 

 but in all the remaining six the egg had failed 

 to hatch out. 



T)r. Hull attributes the failure of the eggs to 

 hatch out to the cokl weather which lias pre- 

 vailed so generally this spring; and so far as 

 this failure to hatch is concerned, we believe 

 that he has assigned the true cause. Manifestly, 

 however, the failuro to hatch is one thing, and 

 the paucity of eggs another thing; and we do 

 not conceive that the cold snaps that prevailed 

 this spring would prevent the mother-Curculios 

 from laying their eggs as soon as the weather 

 turned warm. Probably this mischievous little 

 pest has been extensively preyed on during the 

 season of 1868-9 by some one or more of those 

 cannibal insects, which we showed in our second 

 number to have this very desirable propensity; 

 and thus the paucity of egg-layers necessarily 

 led to a corresponding paucity of eggs. 



Judge Brown of Villa Ridge, Ills., writes: 

 •'Curculios continue scarce." 



Mr. J. II. Tice of St. Louis county. Mo., in- 

 lorms us that he had a plum tree, from which 

 heretofore it has been impossible to get any 

 fruit, and that it is this year so loaded that the 

 limbs bid fair to break; the Curculio has not 

 molested them. 



Mr. C. W. Spanlding of Kirkwood, Mo., re- 

 lates a similar experience to that of Mr. Tice; 

 he says, however, that a few Curculio marks 

 were noticed early in the season, but that the 

 eggs failed to batch. 



ISIr. A. Dean from Otto, Indiana, writes: 

 " The prospect in this vicinity for a peach crop 

 was never better than at this time. Insects 

 of all kinds seem to be less numerous than 

 usual." 



The Rev. Chas. Pcabody of Sulphur Springs, 

 Mo., informs us that he has scarcely been able to 

 catch a Curculio, and has long since abandoned 

 the jarring of his peach-trees; the trees are 

 loaded with fruit and the prospect good. The 

 experience of Mr. T. W. Guy and of others in 

 tlie same neigliborhood is of a similar nature. 



Mr. Saml. Wright of Hillsboro, Mo., who uses 

 a Curculio-catcher, says the Curculio is very 



scarce compared with last year, as he can hardly 

 find one to a tree. 



Mr. Jas. Waite of Hannibal, Mo., finds that 

 there are altogether fewer Curculios in his 

 neighborhood than there were last year. 



Mr. W. J. AVinters of DuQuoin, Ills., writes 

 that they have no peaches in that immediate 

 vicinity for the Curculio to work on, " though 

 other fruits seem to be clearer from their sting 

 this season than common." 



Mr. W. C. Flagg of Alton, Ills., writes "I 

 am of your and Judge Brown's impression, that 

 the Curculio is out in smaller force this year." 



On Mr. H. G. McPike's place at Alton, Ills., 

 we found an abundant crop of plums and cher- 

 ries, with no fallen fruit, and scarcely any of 

 that on the trees exhibiting the well-known 

 Curculio mark, though no precautions whatever 

 had been taken to guard against its attacks. 



Though satisfied with our own observations, 

 we give the above evidence of a few competent 

 fruit-growers in corroboration of our statement. 

 Still, this general scarcity of the Curculio does 

 not preclude its being abundant in certain 

 localities, and for aught we know it may abound 

 in the Eastern States. Indeed, if we are 

 rightly informed, it is quite plentiful in some 

 parts of Michigan. As a general rule, it 

 will be found scarce only where stone-fruit 

 was scarce a year ago, and as Dr. Hull had a 

 fair crop of peaches in 1868 we should naturally 

 have given this as the reason for the unusual 

 numbers of the Curculio which he finds this 

 year, had he not declared that none of them 

 were bred on his place — a declaration which 

 reflects no great credit on his neighbors. His 

 peach crop is a failure this year, owing to frost 

 in the early part of the season, and of course 

 the Curculios concentrate on the plum trees; 

 and as they have been so numerous as to enable 

 him to catch " from two to five thousand" in a 

 single morning, wo pay him a high compliment 

 for industry and perseverance; for surely wc 

 never saw plums hang more thickly or more 

 free from stings than those on his trees. More- 

 over, if we had not been informed of what had 

 been, and were left to make a decision from 

 what was while we wei-e there, we should have 

 been still more thorouo'hly convinced of the 

 comparative scarcity of this insect, for upon 

 carefully overhauling a large bag-full of plums 

 " the result of that morning's catch " we 

 popped every Curculio into a bottle of alcohol, 

 and aflorwiinls found by count that there were 

 just t\vcnl>-six, aiiil after using the catcher on 

 a number of (liosc ]ihiui-lrcrs wliich the Doctor 

 had found were most frequented by the Little 

 Turk we succeeded in capturing but three 

 specimens. 



Admitting that his place forms an exception 

 to the general rule, we most good-humpredly 

 cast home again the Doctor's accusation of 

 " hasty," and leave the verdict with the people ! 



