BILL=BUQS AND GRAIN=WEEVILS. 



Strawberry plants are often dwarfed or killed by the 

 larva; of Tyloderma fragraria, which mine out the interior 

 of the crown. 



Calandrinae 



This rather small group, also called Rhynchophoridos, 

 of usually large (relative to other Curculionidas) beetles 

 are the Bill-Bugs and Grain-Weevils. The larvse of the 

 larger species bore into the stems of plants; those of the 

 smaller ones feed on seeds and grain. Rhyncliophorus 

 cruentatus is usually more than .75 in. long^ shiny black 

 or partly red, and lives in the cabbage palmetto of the 

 Southern States. It is the largest of our species. The 

 antennal club is wedge-shaped in Rhodob<znns (third tarsal 

 joint broad, spongy beneath, the brush narrowly divided) 

 and Sphenophorus (this joint smooth, at least in the 

 middle) ; the species of each are .2 in., or more, long. The 

 antennal club of Calandra is oval, and the species are 

 smaller. Rliodobanus ij-punctatus is black beneath; 

 above, red with five black spots on the pronotum and a 

 number of more or less confluent ones on the elytra. It 

 breeds in the stems of a variety of weeds. An allied species 

 attacks sugar cane in the West Indies. 



There are a large number of species, and 

 Sphenophorus . . * 



their differentiation is difficult. I he 



corn bill-bugs (or 'elephant bugs'), as the species of 

 Sphenoplwrus are commonly called, pass the winter in the 

 imago [adult] stage among dead leaves and rubbish, and 

 lay eggs early in the following summer, beginning probably 

 in May. The larvae hatch in June, feed on the bulbous 

 roots of grasses and grass-like plants, including corn, 

 pass into the pupal stage in July, and begin to emerge as 

 imagoes late in July, continuing into August and possibly 

 for some time thereafter. The normal food plants are 

 wild grasses, especially those with bulbous roots ' ' (Blatch- 

 ley and Leng). 



403 



