THE CUR CUI.1 0, OR PLUM- WEEVIL. 
77 
that the cherry-worm , so called, which is very common in this 
fruit when gathered from the tree, produces, at maturity, the 
same curculio as that of the plum ; but, unlike the latter, 
it rarely causes the stung cherry to drop prematurely to the 
ground. The late Dr. Joel Burnett, of Southborough, the 
author of two interesting articles on the plum-weevil,* sent 
to me, in the summer of 1839, some specimens of the in- 
sect, in the chrysalis state, which were raised from the small 
grubs in apples ; and, since that time, I have seen the same 
grubs in apples, pears, and quinces, in this vicinity. They 
are not to be mistaken for the more common apple-worms, 
from which they are easily distinguished by their inferior 
size, and by their want of feet. In 1831, Mr. Thomas Say, 
in a note on the plum- weevil, stated that it “ depredates on 
the plum and peach and other stone-fruits ; ” and that his 
“ kinsman, the late excellent William Bartram, informed him 
it also destroys the English walnut in this country.” f 
Observers do not agree concerning some points in the 
economy of this insect, such as the time required for it to 
complete its transformations, the condition and place wherein 
it passes the winter, and the agency of the curculio in pro- 
ducing the warts or excrescences on plum and cherry trees. 
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 tills opinion. According to him, the insect “ under- 
goes transformation in about fifteen or twenty days, in the 
month of June or fore part of July ; but all the larvae, (as 
* Now England Farmer, Vol. XVIII. p. 304, March 11, 1840; and Hovey's Mag- 
azine of Horticulture, Vol. IX. p. 281, August, 1843, reprinted in the New England 
Farmer, Vol. XXII. p. 49, August 1C, 1843, and in the Transactions of the Massa- 
chusetts Horticultural Society, for 1843-1846, p. 18. 
t Descriptions of Curculionites, p. 19 (8vo, New Harmony, 1831). 
