THE PLUM. 



535 



many parts of the country, 5 ' after the most flat- 

 tering appearance, " has the frequent mortifica- 

 tion of seeing nearly all, or, indeed, often the 

 whole crop fall from the trees when half or two- 

 thirds grown;" and this is the effect of this 

 insect alone. The attacks of insects in America 

 are of a far more serious character than with us ; 

 for really, with the exception of the aphides, 

 our trees seldom sustain much damage. 



Hylobius abietis, fig. 232, a large beetle often 

 found on the coniferous trees, sometimes 

 attacks the leaves 

 and young shoots 

 of the plum, as 

 well as occasion- 

 ally the peach also. 

 From its size it is 

 readily picked off 

 and destroyed. 



Curculio tenebrico- 

 sus, fig. 229, a mem- 

 ber of the beetle fa- 

 mily, sometimes at- 

 tacks the plum as 

 well as the apricot 

 —(which see, p. 522). 



Thrips ochraceus 

 infests the fruit of 

 the plum when it 

 is ripe, and in dry 

 seasons. The leaves 

 suffer from its at- 

 tacks also. Copi- 

 ous syringing the 

 trees previous to 

 the fruits beginning 

 to ripen is appa- 

 rently the only means of defending our crops 

 from it. 



The Red plum grub, Tortrix (Carpocapsa) 

 nigricana Schmidb.,fig. 233, is most destructive 

 to the fruit, in which the grub, while yet quite 



Fig. 233. 



HYLOBIUS ABIETIS. 



RED PLUM GRUB, MOTH. 



small,buries itself, penetrating to near the stone, 

 and feeding on the pulp, causing the fruit to 

 drop off. Having attained its full grub size 

 within the fruit, it creeps out and penetrates the 

 loose bark of the tree, forming a habitation in 

 which it resides during winter. It changes 

 into a light-brown pupa early in spring, and 

 emerges in its moth state about June. The 

 size of the moth is not much more than that of 

 the common house-fly ; wings nearly blacky and, 

 when the sun shines upon them, presenting a 

 remarkable metallic lustre. The fruit which 



COPPER-COLOURED WEEVIL 



falls in consequence of the attack of this insect 

 should be gathered up, and so disposed of as to 

 prevent the caterpillars from reaching the tree. 

 The bark of the old branches and stem, on which 

 it finds a sufficient protection for the winter, 

 should be painted over with spirits of tar 

 The best way, however, is to carry away every 

 fruit before the caterpillar has time to quit 

 them. 



Tortrix Wceberana, fig. 230, in its larva state, 

 feeds upon the inner bark of the plum, as well 

 as on that of the peach and apricot. Its mode 

 of attack, &c, will be found described, p. 522. 



The copper-coloured weevil, Curculio (Rhyn- 

 chitis) cupreus Schonh, fig. 234, according to 

 Kollar, is called the Pflaumenbohrer, or plum- 

 borer, in Germany, 

 because the plum is 

 selected for the recep- 

 tion of its eggs, and for 

 the nourishment of the 

 little larva proceeding 

 from them. In default 

 of plums, they make 

 use of the soft spring 

 shoots of the plum and 

 apricot tree. "When the 

 plums have attained the 

 size of large almonds, 

 the female weevil selects 

 one in which to deposit 

 her eggs. As the larva 

 can only be transformed 

 .into abeetle when buried 

 in the earth, and as, when 

 buried in the plum, it cannot come down of itself 

 from the tree, the parent beetle obviates the diffi- 

 culty by cutting through the stalk of the plum 

 with her proboscis as soon as she has deposited her 

 egg. As if the operation of cutting through the 

 stalk were too great a fatigue to be accomplished 

 at once, she divides the labour, and first cuts 

 the stalk only about half through, leaving the 

 other half to be divided after the egg has been 

 laid. She then gets on the plum, and, fixing her 

 abdomen on the stem, begins cutting with her 

 proboscis the epidermis of the fruit into arched 

 cuts ; she then raises up the skin, bores a hole 

 beneath it in the pulp, and forms a roomy cham- 

 ber for her offspring. When this is accom- 

 plished, she lays her egg at the entrance of this 

 apartment, and pushes it in with her proboscis. 

 She then turns the epidermis down, closing the 

 entrance to it so effectually that not the small- 

 est drop of water can reach the egg. She then 

 cuts the fruit-stalk completely through, causing 

 the plum to drop off. Laying the egg and cut- 

 ting through the fruit-stalk occupies her two or 

 three hours, from which it will be understood 

 that but few eggs are deposited in the course of 

 one day, and the more so as only one egg is in- 

 trusted to each plum. The egg does not remain 

 long dormant in the plum on the ground. If 

 the weather be favourable, the larva will have 

 consumed the interior of the plum in five or 

 six weeks, and having attained its full size, it 

 will be ready for its final change. It then 

 buries itself into the earth, where it awaits its 

 transformation. This takes place the following 



