106 INSECTS WHICH PEEY UPON AGRICULTURA.L PLANTS. 



husk. The affected grains cannot be distinguished by their 

 appearance, but if put into water will float. The beetles vary 

 in colour from black to chestnut : the head is provided with a 

 long snout — the distins^uishinoj feature of all the weevils — at the 

 end of which is the masticatory mouth, and at its base the eyes : 

 the geniculated, clubbed feelers are placed about its middle. 

 The thorax, which is delicately " punctured," is as large as the 

 abdominal part. The wdiole insect is about one -fourth of an 

 inch in length, and the flying wings are not developed in this 

 country. They are never found in the fields, and do not like 

 the light, being always buried to a depth of several inches in 

 the corn heap. The best way of killing them is either by 

 exposing them to cold by opening the granary windows on a 

 frosty night, or else a sudden raising of the temperature to about 

 75° Fahr. The place should be kept clean, the walls smooth 

 and whitewashed, and no crevices left which will harbour them ; 

 r fumigation is of little use as they are always buried in the heap. 

 Frequent turning of the grain will retard their operations. 



Ajnon apricans (the Purple Clover Weevil). — This is a 

 shining bluish-black, pear-shaped insect; about one-eighth of 

 an inch in length, the thorax and snout being much elongated. 

 It is in greatest abundance when the purple clover is in flower, 

 at wdiich period the female deposits her eg.^s. If the withered 

 heads be examined a little white maggot with brown head will 

 be found eatin<? the base of the calvx and the germ of the future 

 seed ; it changes to a pupa in the same situation. The weevns 

 shun the light, and are not easily found. It is only to the seed 

 they do damage, so that an affected crop should be cut early 

 and not seeded. They are provided with wings for flight, and 

 are very active in running about, and like most weevils feign 

 death wdien touched. 



Apion Jiampes (the Yellow-Legged Dutch-Clover Weevil) 

 is very similar to the . last, but more slender in form ; its 

 economy, however, is exactly the same — the maggot feeding at 

 the base of the calyx of the floret, and the affected heads assum- 

 ing a prematurely ripened appearance. It differs from the 

 common clover weevil mostly in the legs, which are bright 

 yellow. It is kept in check by the Euhazus macrocephalus, a 

 minute fly provided with a long ovipositor which enables it to 

 reach to the bottom of the florets, and deposit an egg in the 

 maii^^c^ot feedincT there ; which mas^^ot in due time assumes the 

 chrysalis state and then dies. 



Apion 2^omonce (the Vetch or Tare Weevil) is larger than 

 the Clover Weevil, and the female deposits her eggs in both the 

 cultivated and wild variety, the larvae — which are at first of a 

 dirty ochreous tint — eating out the interior of the seeds in the 

 pod. They change to pupae in the hollowed out shells, and 



