KiNGSLEY. — On the Black Vine Weevil. 339 



to inform me that he had discovered upon his vines, at night, 

 an insect new to him, which evidently was feeding upon the 

 yomig shoots and leaves, and was present in immense 

 numbers. From the specimen shown by Mr. Burford I at 

 once recognised it as a weevil [OtiorJiyncJiUs), but was not 

 certain as to its species. I therefore sent it on to Mr. Maskell. 

 of Wellington, who very kindly obtained from ]Mr. Kirk its 

 name, and also references to one or two books describing its 

 habits, &c. 



From Miss Oimerod's book, " Injurious Insects," page 305, 

 I gather the following particulars of its habits and date of 

 appearance (the latter I have changed to correspond with the 

 difference of the seasons in New Zealand): " The eggs are 

 deposited a little below the surface of the ground in the spring 

 or early part of the smnmer. The maggot, or grub, is legless, 

 whitish, somewhat hairy, and is to be found from about 

 February to the following spring at the roots of its food-plants. 

 The pupa is yellowish-white, and may be found about Sep- 

 tember, lying Sin. or 4in. below the surface, where it remains 

 only about fourteen days before development. The weevil 

 itself is of a dull-black colour, about fin. long, with a short 

 snout or proboscis ; the body between the head and abdomen 

 is granulated ; and the elytra, or wing-cases, a,re rough with 

 raised lines, and somewhat prettily marked with orange spots, 

 which by means of a powerful magnifying-glass are seen to be 

 composed of small tufts of golden down." 



Some idea may be formed of the immense numbers infest- 

 ing Mr. Burford's vines when I state that, although for the last 

 fortnight he and his men have destroyed hundreds almost 

 every night, yet when I visited the houses at 11 o'clock one 

 night last week they were still to be found on nearly every 

 young shoot. 



It is impossible for those large numbers to be produced 

 suddenly in one season, and I should say they have been in 

 the garden for several seasons unnoticed, as they probiibly 

 would have been this year had not Mr. Burford had special 

 reasons for visiting his houses after dark, and thus detected 

 the reason that his young shoots were looking so sickly and 

 otherwise not thriving as they should have done. I exhibit 

 specimens of the beetle obtained from Mr. Burford's vines, 

 and for the benefit of those persons interested in vine-growing 

 I subjoin some of the suggested remedies and preventives. 



As the weevils only make their appearance by night, a com- 

 monly-adopted method is to spread white cloths below the 

 branches, and to shake the beetles down at night, gathering 

 them up and destroying them in hot water. It must be borne 

 in mind that these beetles drop off' on any disturbance or when 

 a strong light shines upon them. 



