16 
THE PLUM CUECULIO. 
way into European collections. Benjamin Smith Barton, writing 
in 1802, states: "The unripe fruit of the peach is greatly injured by 
the curculio, but the insects most pernicious to the trees are two 
lepidopterous insects of the genus Zygsena of Fabricius. These, 
while in the larval state, destroy the bark of the root." 
An extended account of the curculio by Dr. James Tilton was 
published in Willisch's Domestic Encyclopaedia in 1804. A con- 
siderable knowledge of the insect is shown at this early period and 
the article was much quoted by subsequent writers for several years. 
With the increase in the number of journals and papers devoted to 
horticulture and agriculture, references to the curculio were much 
more frequent. During the first 30 years of the nineteenth centur}' 
numerous short articles and notes appeared, the following being 
among the more important contributors: Dr. James Tilton, J. E. 
Muse, James Thacher, S. L. Mitchell, William Prince, William 
Fig. 1. — Herbst's figure of the plum curculio; accompanying the original description in 1797. 
Wilson, and W. D. Peck. (See figs. 1 and 2 for early illustrations 
of the plum curculio.) 
Beginning about 1830 there was a noticeable increase in the number 
of references and articles relating to this pest from practical fruit 
growers and others, giving their experience in the use of remedies 
and suggesting plans for circumventing its injuries. Some of the 
more important writers between 1830 and 1850 were David Thomas, 
S. Reynolds, R. P. Hildreth, William Wilson, B. Manley, Dr. Joel 
Burnett, John Parsons, A. J. Downing, James Matthews, C. E. 
Goodrich, and there were many others. 
Excepting Melsheimer (see bibliography), the plum curculio ap- 
pears to have been first treated by an American entomologist in 
1819, when it was described as Rhynchsenus cerasi and figured (fig. 3) 
by W. D. Peck, who considered it the cause of black-knot of cherries 
and plums, from the fact that the insect was reared from these 
