5 5 



procured, in 1839, some specimens of the insect in the chrysalis state, which were raised 

 from the small grubs in apples. Much as has been written on the subject of the plum 

 curculio, there are several points in its history on which observers are unable to agree, 

 such as the length of time it occupies in its various transformations, the manner and place 

 in which it hybernates, or passes the winter, and whether it is single or double brooded 

 in each year. 



Dr. Harris writes "that the average time passed by the insect in the ground during 

 the summer has appeared to me to be about three weeks ; but the transformation may 

 be accelerated or retarded by temperature and situation. It has also been my impression 

 that the late broods remained in the ground all winter, and that from them are produced 

 the beetles which sting the fruit in the following spring. Dr. Burnett's observations 

 coincide with this opinion. According to him the insect ' : undergoes transformation in 

 about fifteen or twenty days, in the month of June or fore part of J uly ; but all the larvee 

 (as far as he had observed) that go into the earth as late as the 20th 3 uly, do not ascend 

 that season, but remain there in the pupa stage until next spring." Dr. Tilton, in his 

 account of the curculio, stated that " it remains in the earth in the form of a grub, ready 

 to be metamorphosed into a beetle as the spring advances." According to M. H. Simp- 

 son, Esq, of Saxonville, the larvse, or grubs, "go through their chrysalis state in three 

 weeks after going into the ground, and remain in a torpid state through the season, unless 

 the ground is disturbed." Dr. E. Sanborn, of Andover, has come to entirely different 

 conclusions, from a series of experiments made upon these insects. It is his opinion that 

 they do not remain in the ground dm-ing the winter, either in the grub or in the beetle 

 state, but that under all conditions of place and temperature, in " about six weeks " after 

 they have entered the earth, they " return to the surface perfectly finished, winged and 

 equipped for destruction." Dr. Trimble, who devoted a large portion of a very extensive 

 and elaborately got up volume to the history of this pest, decided that it passes the win- 

 ter above the ground in the perfect beetle state, and that it is single brooded. Mr. B. 

 D. Walsh, the late talent 3d State Entomologist of Illinois, in an able article in the Prac- 

 tical Entomologist, gives very strong grounds for believing that the curculio is only single 

 brooded, although he afterwards, on what seems to us very insufficient evidence, decided 

 that it is double, brooded. Mr. Riley states that Dr. E. S. Hull, of Alton, Illinois, who 

 has had a vast personal experience with this insect, concludes that they are single brooded 

 and pass the winter for the most part in the preparatory state underground. 



Dr. Harris records having found these beetles as early as the 30th March — an almost 

 conclusive proof that they must have wintered in the perfect state above ground. Dr. 

 Trimble observed them hybernating under the shingles of a roof, in the chinks of a stone 

 wall, and under the bark of an apple tree during the fall and early spring. 



The number of eggs that the female curculio deposits has been made the subject of 

 minute investigation. Dr. Harris seemed to think that only one egg was deposited in a 

 'single fruit, but Mr. Riley states that four or five larva? may often be found in single speci- 

 mens of the larger fruits. Dr. Trimble, who dissected many of these insects, states that 

 the greatest number of eggs ever found by him in a single curculio was twenty-five, while 

 other writers appear to think that the actual number of eggs laid is very much larger. 



Having now reviewed at some length the natural history of the " Little Turk," we 

 will avail ourselves of the conclusions drawn by Mr. Riley, founded on his own observa- 

 tions as well as on those of others. In his first annual report, in an able article on this 

 subject, he rehearses the following articles of belief : 



i 



1. " That Plum Curculios are more numerous in timbered regions than on the 

 prairie. 



2. That they can and do fly during the heat of the day, and that cotton bandages 

 round the trunk, and all like contrivances to prevent their ascending the trees, are worse 

 than useless, and a result only of ignorance of their economy. 



3. That they prefer smooth skinned to rough skinned fruit. 



4. That they deposit and mature alike in nectarines, plums, apricots, cherries and 

 .peaches ; in black knot on plum trees and in some kinds of apples, pears and quinces. 



