. Circular. Insects. southern Canada to Florida and Texas. Westward of the States bor- dering the Mississippi River, it rapidly loses its importance as a pest, owing, probably, to the more arid condition of the LIFE HISTORY AND HABITS. Like other beetles, the plum curculio has four distinct stages in its life, namely, the egg, the larva or " worm," the pupa, and the adult or beetle. The last three stages are shown much enlarged in figure 1. The insect passes the winter in the adult or beetle stage under accu- mulations of partly decayed leaves, among the closely packed drie
. Circular. Insects. southern Canada to Florida and Texas. Westward of the States bor- dering the Mississippi River, it rapidly loses its importance as a pest, owing, probably, to the more arid condition of the LIFE HISTORY AND HABITS. Like other beetles, the plum curculio has four distinct stages in its life, namely, the egg, the larva or " worm," the pupa, and the adult or beetle. The last three stages are shown much enlarged in figure 1. The insect passes the winter in the adult or beetle stage under accu- mulations of partly decayed leaves, among the closely packed dried grass of sod-covered orchards, and probably wherever suitable protection from the weather may be found. As its depredations are usually the worst in those portions of orchards which are in close proximity to woods, the beetles doubtless find the natural accumulations of rubbish in such situations very suitable places in which to pass the winter. In Niagara County, N. Y., during the fall of 1905, numerous careful searches for beetles were made under leaves and rubbish in plum, peach, and apple orchards, and woodlots and hedgerows adjoining them. These searches did not discover any hibernating beetles ex- cept in one large apple orchard where the ground was covered with sod. Failure to find beetles in other places was probably due to the scarcity of the insect in plum and peach orchards during the preceding summer. In the sod-covered apple orchard mentioned, a total of 42 beetles was found at various times between October 14 and November 28. In every case they were beneath partly decayed leaves under apple trees and often pig. plum curculio: Adult fe- |n depressions in the soil into which the male on plum, showing: the circular feeding; punctures and the crescen- leaves Were closely packed. f0CriS)yin8:PUnCtUreS E"larsed In the sPring' when tbe fmit buds are unfolding, the beetles begin to emerge from their winter quarters and feed to some extent on the blossoms and
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, bookpublishe, booksubjectinsects
