Spring practice m EcoisroMic zoology. i^ 



mallet which may be padded with leather to prevent bruising the 

 bark. Several trees may be jarred in this manner before the beetles 

 are collected from the sheets. Put the beetles in a pail of water with 

 a little kerosene floating: on top to kill them. Jarring can be suc- 

 cessfully done only in the early hours of the morning, usually be- 

 tween 4 a. m. and 8 a. m. Each tree should be jarred two or 

 three times per week during- May and June. Sometimes sheets are 

 spread on frames so as to make their transportation easy, and gangs 

 of cheap laborers are employed to carry and arrange them under 

 the trees in advance of the man who carries the hammer on a long 

 handle and is kept busy rapping the trunks. 



The Plum Goitger, Coccotorus -prunicida, like the curculio, is a 

 small snout-beetle, a little more than one-fourth of an inch long, with 

 yellowish thorax and legs, and brownish head and wing-covers which 

 are mottled with white and black spots. There are no humps on the 

 wing-covers as with the curculio. The beetle hibernates over winter, 

 and at blossoming time eats a hole through the calyx or green cup- 

 like base of the blossom, thrusts its curved snout through the open- 

 ing, and devours the ovule or embryo fruit. The eggs are laid in the 

 fruit in holes, externally resembling pin holes, but scooped out and 

 enlarged at the lower end. As soon as the young grub hatches from 

 the e.gg it burrows its way through, the flesh to the young pit, and 

 there subsists on the interior substance of the seed. No external 

 sign of its presence will be left except a small scar from which the 

 gum exudes. As the fruit increases in size, it often develops malfor- 

 mations and becomes knotty in appearance. ■ Spraying is not en- 

 tirely satisfactory against this pest but is of some help. One spray- 

 ing to coat the green calyx cups just before the blossoms open is 

 probably the most important application. Subsequent sprayings 

 should be as for curculio. The gouger may also be collected by the 

 jarring process like the curculio, but does not drop so readily, and 

 must be secured promptly after falling, since it quickly takes wing. 



Consult the apple section for an account of these: 



Flat Headed Borer, Chrysobothris femorata. See page 51. 



Fruit Tree Bark Borer, Scolytus rugulosus. See page 51. 



Scurfy Scale, Chtonasi>is furjurus. See page 51. 



Oyster Shell Scale, Lej>idosai>hes uhni. See page 51. 

 Refer to pear section: 



Pear Slug, Eriocamfoides limacina. See page 56. 



