26 THE PLUM CURCULIO. 
REPORTED INTRODUCTIONS OF THE CURCULIO. 
There have been reports at different times of the introduction 
of the plum curculio into new localities in the United States and 
into foreign countries. Thus in 1889 it was reported by local news- 
papers as present in Los Angeles County, Cal., but the insect in 
question proved to be Fuller's rose-beetle (Pantomorus fulleri) (see 
fig. 8), a common insect in the West, feeding upon leaves of ever- 
greens, oaks, camellias, palms, cannas, etc. 
In Bulletin 51 of the Montana Agricultural Experiment Station 
the insect is stated to be present in the Bitter Root Valley, but this 
reported introduction was later found to be without foundation. 
The curculio was reported in British Columbia on plums, but upon 
investigation in the territory reported to be infested, none of the 
insects could be found. 
The curculio is the subject of a chapter in the Handbook of the 
Destructive Insects of Victoria, Part II, by Mr. Chas. French, in which 
he alludes to the discovery by a Mr. Parson, of Kent, of an insect 
injuring plums very similar to if not identical with the plum curculio. 
The correctness of this record, however, is plainly doubted by Mr. 
French, and his reason for a detailed consideration of the insect in 
the work mentioned results from his expressed fear that the species 
may before long find its way into Australia. Thus far, however, the 
insect appears not to have been introduced there. 
In Tasmania, during 1889, considerable excitement was aroused 
by the discovery in cherries around Hobart of grubs which were 
thought to belong to our North American plum curculio. Subse- 
quent records as to the correctness of this belief are wanting, but it is 
probable that the insect in question was some one of the native 
species. 
More recently, in 1900, the insect .was reported in New Zealand, 
near Auckland, but careful search for it in the supposedly infested 
territory did not reveal any trace of its presence. So far as recorded, 
therefore, the plum curculio is limited to the territory previously 
indicated in North America. It appears remarkable that in the case 
of an insect infesting fruits in the larval stage it should not have 
become much more widely distributed in the United States and 
to foreign countries. In fact it is entirely reasonable to suppose 
that at one time or another the insect has been shipped along with 
fruit to various parts of the world, but that owing to certain con- 
ditions essential for its proper development it has not been able to 
establish itself. In any country with climatic conditions similar to 
those obtaining in the humid area of the United States it would 
doubtless thrive, however, and become as destructive as it is at the 
present time in North America. 
