82 DR. HARRIS’S REPORT. April, 
the kernel before the fruit is half grown; and thus causes it to 
fall prematurely. The maggot then easily escapes into the earth, 
becomes a pupa, and returns to the surface in about three weeks. In 
order to account for the occurrence of these insects in the limbs of 
the trees, I will venture to give the following explanation, although, at 
present, it rests only upon hypothesis. The final transformation of the 
grubs, living in the fruit, appears to take place at various times during 
the last of summer and the beginning of autumn, when the weevil, find- 
ing no young fruit, is probably obliged to lay its eggs in the small bran- 
ches. The larve live in the branches during winter and are not 
perfected till near the last of the ensuing June. Should the fall of 
the fruit occur late in autumn the development of the perfect insects 
will be retarded till the next spring; and this I suppose to be the 
origin of the brood which oviposits in fruit. It is a singular circum- 
stance in the history of this insect, and one of which, hitherto, no 
explanation has been offered, that some broods should attack the 
limbs and others the fruit. In this is manifest the wisdom of the 
Author of nature in providing for a continuation of the species in 
various contingencies. By this wonderful compensating contrivance 
in its economy, this little entity is secure of an appropriate nidus for 
its future progeny in sterile regions and unfruitful seasons. 
Such, in brief, are the habits of this insect, and these being 
known, the way for successful experiment is opened. Not having 
made any myself, it must be left to the ingenuity of others to devise 
and point out a remedy against the injuries of this depredator. The 
following, among others which have been suggested, may succeed. 
1. The diseased excrescences should be extirpated before the 
last of June and be burned. 
2. All immature or wormy stone fruit should be collected as soon 
as it falls, and should be boiled or steamed to kill the enclosed 
larve, after which they may be given to swine. 
The moose plum-tree, which grows wild in Maine, is never at- 
tacked by this insect, even when in the immediate vicinity of diseased 
foreign trees. It, therefore, would be the best of stocks for bud- 
ding or engrafting upon. The fruit can be easily obtained from Maine, 
and the trees grow rapidly from the stones. 
From the genus Rhynchenus have been separated those insects 
