THE POTATO-WEEVIL. 81 



be given to the increase of the weevil. All the fallen fruit 

 should be immediately gathered and thrown into a tight 

 vessel, and after it is boiled or steamed to kill the en- 

 closed grubs, it may be given as food to swine. Many 

 of the grubs will be found in the bottom of the vessel in 

 which the fallen fruit has been deposited. Not one of these 

 should be allowed to escape to the ground, but they should 

 all be killed before they have time to complete their trans- 

 formations. The diseased excrescences on the trees should 

 be cut out, and, as they often contain insects, they should 

 be burnt. If the wounds are washed with strong brine, 

 the formation of new warts will be checked. The moose 

 plum-tree (JPrunus Americana) seems to be free from' warts, 

 even when growing in the immediate vicinity of diseased for- 

 eign trees. It would, therefore, be the best of stocks for 

 budding or ingrafting upon. It can be easily raised from the 

 stone, and grows rapidly, but does not attain a great size. 



Among the many insects that have been charged with 

 being the cause of the wide-spread pestilence, commonly 

 called the potato-rot, there is a kind of weevil that lives in 

 the stalk of the potato. The history of this little insect was 

 first made known by Miss Margaretta H. Morris, of Grer- 

 mantown, Pennsylvania. In August, 1849, her attention 

 was called to this subject by Mr. Wilkinson, the principal 

 of the Mount Airy Agricultural Institute, '* who discovered 

 small grubs in the potato-vines on his farm, and naturally 

 feared injurious consequences." On the 28th Fig. «■ 

 of the same month and year, Miss Morris sent 

 to me some specimens of the insects in a piece 

 of the potato-stalk, wherein they underwent their 

 transformations. They proved to be the beetles 

 described by Mr. Say under the name of Bari- 

 dius trinotatus (Fig. 41), so called from their 

 having three black dots on their backs. This kind of beetle 

 is about three twentieths of an inch long. Its body is covered 

 with short whitish hairs, which give to it a gray appearance. 

 11 



