THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 255 



THE CLOVER-LEAF WEEVIL, PHYTONOMUS PUNCTATUS 



(FABR.) IN ITALY. 



BY F. M. WEBSTER, WOOSTER, OHIO. 



When Dr. J. A. Lintner prepared his first annual report in 1882, he, 

 with the aid of Drs. Hagen and Le Conte, failed to discover any record 

 of the clover-destroying habit of this species in Europe, and it was sup- 

 posed at that time that this was a newly acquired habit, and occurring 

 only in this country. Indeed, Dr. Le Conte failed to learn anything 

 whatever in regard to the food habits of this species. As it has now 

 entered into the Mississippi Valley and is rapidly pushing its way west- 

 ward, it will be of interest to those who will have to deal with it in future 

 to know that its taste for clover was not of American origin, but had been 

 observed in its native home many years ago. It is a matter of surprise 

 to me that nothing is said, by Italian observers, that gives the least hint 

 of injury by the larvae, which is, with us, by far its most destructive 

 stage. Nor do I find that Sig. Piero Bargagli, from, whose very useful 

 work, Rassegna Biologica di Rincofori Europei, I have taken the follow- 

 ing extract, anywhere mentions the larva of this species, which he con- 

 siders under the name Hypera punctata, Fab. 



Here in Ohio, I find that the larvae prefer the white clover to the red, 

 and some unsatisfactory observations of mine, made quite recently, 

 make me feel rather suspicious that the food of the adult may include 

 plants other than clover. At Chautauqua Lake some years ago, I 

 observed the adults in quite numbers floating about, in the water, into 

 which I supposed they had either dropped or been blown from the trees. 

 But if this were so, what were they doing there ? 



(From Rassegna Biologica di Rincofori Europei, p. gf-8, 1883-87.) 



During the years 1867-70, Medicago sativa and Trifolium were very 

 much damaged in Lombardy and Bologna by this insect ; and on the 

 4th of June, 1868, Mr. Antonio Villa, in Relazione sug/i insetti die de- 

 vastano il Trifogiio, Milano, 1868, and again in SulT insetto distruttore 

 del Trifogiio, Milano, La Lombardia, 13 giugno, 1868, directed the at- 

 tention of the agriculturists of the district of Milan to the damage proven 

 to have been done in the districts of Melegnano and Creme, attributing 

 the extraordinary development of this species to the remarkable drouth, 

 followed by excessive heat, causing the destruction of carnivorous insects 

 which were hostile to this and other species. Various remedies were 



