i86 



DESTRUCTIVE INSECTS. 



whitish marks near the middle. These curculios hibernate in 

 any sheltered location, as in hedge-rows, rubbish piles, old 

 stone-walls, or a near-by forest ; in consequence of this, fruit- 

 growers often notice that the portion of their orchard nearest 



Fro. 252.— The Plum Curculio. Adult ; larva ; pupa ; all enlarged. 



such places suffers the most from the insect. The curculios 

 come from their hiding places soon after the fruits are set, or 

 when they are not larger than peas, and soon egg-laying 

 begins. 

 This is an interesting operation. Alighting on a fruit, the 



mother beetle, with her jaws, 

 which are situated at the end 

 of the long snout, makes a 

 small cut through the skin of 

 the fruit and runs her snout ob- 

 liquely into the flesh just under 

 the skin and gouges out a cavity 

 large enough to receive her 

 egg. Then turning around, an 

 egg is dropped into the hole, 

 and again turning, she pushes 

 it into the cavity with her 

 snout. Just in front of this hole 

 the mother now deftly makes 

 a crescent - shaped slit (Fig. 

 253), which she extends obliquely underneath the egg- 

 cavity so as to leave the egg in a sort of a flap of flesh, 

 apparently her object being to prevent the growth of the 

 fruit from crushing her very tender &%%. This whole opera- 

 tion requires about five minutes. One female is said to de- 

 posit from fifty to one hundred eggs — a few each day. One 



Pig. 253.— The Plum Curculio's Cres- 

 cent Mark on a. Cherry, natural 

 size. 



