THE PLUM-CURCULIO. 41 
THE PLUM-CURCULIO. 
( Conotrachelus nenuphar Hbst.). 
We can hardly open an entomological bulletin issued by 
any of the eastern, central, or southern states without find- 
ing a description of this insect, and of the remedies that will 
kill it and save the fruit. Yet as a very general rule more is 
claimed for such proposed remedies than is warranted by 
facts, and many of the measures have not proved very satis- 
factory. This is especially true of the applications of Paris 
green and London purple, which, with Bordeaux mixture, are 
now-a-days asort ofcure-all. Allthesesubstances are of great 
value, but as far as the “Little Turk”’ is concerned we have 
to depend for success very largely upon other methods, which, 
though requiring much more labor, are also much more cer- 
tain. Though so well known it is perhaps best to give an 
outline of the life-history of this insect which is illustrated 
in fig. 23 upon plate VII. As the illustration shows, this 
snout-beetle is less than one-fourth of an inch in length, is of 
a brown color with four sealing-wax-like elevated excrescen- 
ces on the hard wing-covers. The beetles hibernate among 
all sorts of rubbish, but prefer accumulated leaves and simi- 
lar substances. Early in spring, and long before the buds of 
the plum-trees open, they visit the orchards, and eat the 
tender parts of the tree, such as green bark and buds; later 
they eat leaves, flowers, and the young fruit. Knowing this 
habit we can kill large numbers of the curculios by spraying 
the trees before their leaves and flowers appear. This should 
be done thoroughly and as the foliage otherwise so very ten- 
der as regards arsenical substances is still enclosed, there is 
no danger of injuring the trees. When the flowers open we 
should not spray; it is more or less useless, and we run the 
risk of killing many honey-bees, which are attracted to them 
and very important, as without them but few fruits will set. 
As soon as the latter have reached the size of a small marble 
the female curculio commences to deposit her eggs; she makes 
a crescent-shaped cut and then separates and elevates a small 
flap into which the egg is inserted. This peculiar crescent- 
shaped slit has given the insect the name: ‘‘Little Turk;”’ it 
is made, apparently, to deaden the flesh of the fruit, or to 
