280 
JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGY 
[Vol. 16 
greedily as soon as they leave their hibernating quarters, and this feeding 
usually takes place on the green succulent calyx which envelops the 
peach during the blooming period and for a week or ten days thereafter. 
Of course the plum curculio prefers the peach fruit to the calyx as food, 
but when the first meal is taken the peach is not exposed, it being en¬ 
tirely enveloped in the calyx. Observations on this habit of the plum 
curculio were first made in Mississippi during the 1920 peach season. 
We have found that an application of lead arsenate immediately 
after the falling of the petals, so as to poison the calyces, kills off many 
adults as they appear from hibernation and before they have a chance to 
feed or deposit eggs in the small peaches. This early treatment of lead 
arsenate produces a marked reduction in the infestation in drops, 
which directly affects the size of the second brood of larvae by cutting 
down the number of first generation adults. A higher percentage of the 
set fruit reaches maturity when the early application is used, as the 
number of fruits that drop before maturity is greatly influenced by the 
number of peaches “stung” as soon as the shuck is off. Furthermore, 
the overwintering adults in some cases deposit eggs throughout the season, 
and this early application also lessens damage from these beetles. 
Spraying and dusting experiments conducted by the U. S. Depart¬ 
ment of Agriculture in cooperation with the Georgia State Board 
of Entomology during the past season show the curculio infestation 
in peach drops to be 25.7 percent where the first lead arsenate treat¬ 
ment was not made until the shucks were shedding, whereas the 
infestation in the drops on the plat that received the first treatment 
immediately after the falling of the petals was only 11.8 percent. The 
infestation of the drops from the check plat in this orchard was 43.1 
percent. 
Results from spraying and dusting experiments for several years have 
shown that an application of arsenate of lead about twenty-eight days 
before each variety is due to ripen, is the most important one for the 
second brood of larvae in latitudes where two generations of the plum 
curculio occur. Egg deposition by the plum curculio in the peach takes 
place during two distinct periods in the development of the fruit; 
namely, between the shedding of the shucks and the beginning of the 
stone hardening period, and during the ripening and swelling period. 
There are practically no eggs deposited while the stone of the peach is 
hardening, which usually starts about four weeks after the shucks fall 
and lasts until about four weeks before the fruit is ready to be harvested. 
Since some overwintering adults deposit eggs over a long period of time, 
