REPORT OF THE ENTOMOLOGIST AND BOTANIST. 183 



Gloxinias and Adiantum8 they are very bad on, eating the roots of the Gloxinias and 

 the young fronds close to the roots of the Adiantums." 



The Black "Vine Weevil is a rare insect in Canada. In the Canadian Entomolo- 

 gist, XXIII. (1891), page 72, Mr. W. Hague Harrington writes : " Otiorhynchus 

 sulcatus, Fab., was found by me at Sydney, C.B., Nova Scotia, in August, 1884, and 

 again in September last. It is apparently quite abundant, as at several points I found 

 fine fresh specimens under boards, &c. Provancher states that this beetle is common 

 in Quebec, and adds: 'We think that its larva lives in haws, as we have nearly 

 always found it beneath hawthorns and apple trees.' " It may be noted that this last 

 suggestion is erroneous, as the larvse live in the soil and attack roots. In 1891 I 

 received a specimen of this weevil from Mr. W. H. Danby, of Victoria, B.C., and 

 later, as recorded above, specimens came from Mr. Knight of the same place. These 

 are the only records that I know of, of the occurrence of this insect in the Dominion. 

 In Insect Life, III., page 37, Mr. E. A. Schwarz says : " Otiorhynchus sulcatus 

 occurs in both North America and Europe. In the latter country it has been 

 frequently mentioned as an enemy to grape vines, strawben-ies and other cultivated 

 plants. In North America, Dr. J. A. Lintner (Second N.Y. Rep., 1885, p. 51) 

 introduced it, on the testimony of Mr. S. Henshaw, as a species injurious to 'bulbs 

 and house plants,' Mr. Henshaw's statement apparently referring to injury done in 

 Massachusetts. Quite recently Dr. H. A. Hagen {Psyche, V., 1890, No. 167-68, 

 p. 33H) states that this species has injured Cyclamens in green-houses at Montvale, 

 Mass., the flowers being destroyed, and in some instances the bulbs injured. As to 

 the probable future course of this pest, we do not anticipate that its injury will be a 

 very serious one, nor that it will spread very much. The species was already known 

 from North America to coleopterists more than sixty years ago, and is confined to 

 the extreme north-eastern portion of the country (from New York northward to 

 Newfoundland and Nova Scotia). For this reason we are inclined to believe that it 

 is not an imported species, but that it belongs (with the other species of Otiorhynchus 

 known from North America) to the cii-cumpolar fauna." 



By a further note (/nsect Life,lY., p. 222), it is shown that the weevil has a great 

 partiality for ferns, and it is stated to be '' still comparatively rare in this country. 

 In Europe it has long been known as a pest attacking the grape, strawberry and 

 raspberry, and Miss Ormerod records an instance of its having ravaged a field of 

 mangel-wurzels in England. The beetle feeds at night and remains under shelter 

 during the day. Its nocturnal habits reader it comparatively easy to deal with. 

 The larvse are not so readily destroyed, but the beetles may be shaken at night from 

 the plants infested by them or may be captured by what is known as the chip-trap 

 process, both well known methods employed against the native Plum Curculio." 



In the letter given above by Mr. Knight it is shown that this insect is capable 

 of committing considerable injury in British Columbia, and it is probable that less 

 careful observers have overlooked it. 



FOREST TREES. 



Forest insects have not been brought before the department very much during 

 the past season, most of the injuries reported having been to cultivated shrubs. 

 The most serious of these is by the Western Ten-lined June bug {Polyphylla decem- 

 lineata. Say) upon nursery trees in Yaucouver Island. Grubs were sent by Mr. G. A. 

 Knight, of Yictoria, who had found them very destructive in his nursery. He wrote : 

 " I send you some young plants of Oupressus Lawsoniana to show how plants of dif- 

 ferent kinds are attacked by these pests. They are also very bad on strawberries 

 and young cherry trees. In fact, I know nothing that they will not attack. They 

 are also very hard on young grafts, such as Irish yews, Cedrus Deodara and C. Libani, 

 Araucarias, etc. There appears to be no remedy for this destruction in a nursery 

 because the plants are dead before one knows that the grubs are at work. The onlj- 

 way seems to dig up the plant and kill the grub." 



