THE AMERICAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



131 



state of Illinois, there is a difTereiicc of about 

 one month in the time of the Curculio's first 

 appearance on your fruit trees ; and I hardly 

 need remind you that the time will vary with 

 the forwardness or lateness of the season. 



As we shall sec from the sequel, it is very 

 important that we know just when tirst to ex- 

 pect Mrs. Turk, and I therefore lay it down as 

 a rule, applicable to any latitude, tiiat she first 

 commences to puncture peaches wlien they are 

 of the size of small marbles or of hazel-nuts, 

 though she may be found on your trees as soon 

 as they are in blossom. To prevent confusion 

 I will use the word "peach," not that her work 

 is confined to this fruit, for, as we shall presently 

 see, she is not so particular in her tastes, but 

 because the peach is more extensively grown in 

 your State than are any of the other large kinds 

 of stone-fruit. 



Alighting, then, on a small peach, she takes 

 a strong hold of it (Fig. 92, d), and with the 

 minute jaws at the end of her snout, make:j a 

 small cut just through the skin of the fruit. She 

 then runs the snout slantingly under the skin, to 

 the depth of one-sixteenth of an inch, and moves 

 it back and forth until the cavity is large enougli 

 to receive the egg it is to retain. Then slie turns 

 around and drops an egg into the mouth of the 

 cavity, and after this is accomplished, she re- 

 sumes her first position, and by means of her 

 snout pushes the egg to the end of the passage, 

 and afterwards deliberately cuts the crescent in 

 front of the hole, so as to undermine the egg 

 and leave it in a sort of fiap. The whole opera- 

 tion requires about five minutes, and )ier object 

 in cutting the crescent is evidently to deaden 

 the fiap, so as to prevent the growing fruit from 

 crushing the egg. 



Now that she has completed this task, and has 

 gone oft' to perform a similar operation on some 

 other fruit, let us from day to day watch the 

 egg which we have just seen deposited, and 

 learn in what manner it develops intoaCurculio 

 like the parent which produced it— remember- 

 ing that the life and habits of this one individual 

 are illustrative of those of every Plum Curculio 

 that ever had, or that ever will have, an existence. 



We shall find that tlie egg is oval and of a 

 pearly-white color. Should the weather be 

 warm and genial, this egg will hatch in from 

 four to five days, but if cold and unpleasant the 

 hatching will not take place for a week or even 

 longer. Eventually, however, there liatches 

 from the egg a soft, tiny, footless grub with a 

 horny head, and this grub immediately com- 

 mences to feed upon the green flesh of the fruit, 

 boring a tortuous path as it proceeds. It riots 



in the fi nit — working by preference around the 

 stone — for from three to five weeks, the period 

 varying, as I have amply proved, according to 

 various controlling influences. 



The fruit containing this grub does not, in the 

 majority of instances, mature, but falls pre- 

 maturely to the ground, generally before the 

 grub is quite full grown. I have known fruit 

 to lie on the ground for upwards of two weeks 

 before the grub left, and have found as many as 

 five grubs in a single peach which had been on 

 the ground for several days. When the grub 

 has once become full grown, however, it for- 

 sakes llie fruit which it has ruined, and burrows 

 from four to six inches in the ground. At this 

 time it is of a glassy yellowish-white color, 

 though it usually partakes of the color of the 

 fruit-flesh on which it was feeding. It is about 

 two-fifths of an inch long, with the head liglit 

 brown; there is a lighter line running along 

 each side of its body, with a row of minute black 

 bristles below, and a less distinct one above it, 

 while the stomach is rust-red, or blackish. The 

 full grown larva presents, in fact, the appearance 

 of Figure 02, a. 



In the ground, by turning round and round, 

 it compresses the earth on all sides until it has 

 formed a smooth oval cavity. 'Within this 

 cavity, in the course of a few days, it assumes 

 the pupa form, of which Figure 02, b. will 

 afl'ord a good idea. 



After remaining in the ground in this state 

 for just about three weeks, it becomes a beetle, 

 which, though soft and uniformly reddish at 

 first, soon assumes its natural colors ; and, when 

 its several parts are sufficiently hardened, works 

 through the soil to the light of day. 



So much for the natural history of the " Little 

 Turk."' Now let us mention a few other facts 

 which it becomes us as fruit-growers to know. 



The Curculio when alarmed, like very many 

 other insects, and especially such as belong to 

 the same great Order of Beetles {Coleoptera), 

 folds up its legs close to tiie body, turns under 

 its snout into a groove which receives it, and 

 drops to the ground. In doing this it feigns 

 death, so as to escape from threatened danger, 

 and does in reality very greatly resemble a dried 

 fruit bud. It attacks, either for purposes of 

 propagation or for food, the Nectarine, Plnm, 

 Apricot, Peach, Cherry, Apple, Pear and Quince, 

 preferring them in the order of their naming. 



It is always most numerous in the early part 

 of the season on the outside of those orchards 

 that are surrounded with timber. Jt is also 

 more luimerous in timbered regions than on the 

 praii'ie. 



