428 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



species as occurring in America is that in Crotch's clieck list of North 

 American coleoptera, pubh'shed in in 1873, but it was known to collectors long 

 before. Prof. Cook informs me tliat he captured it on the college grounds 

 more than fifteen years ago. 



Prof. J. A. Lintner writes that in 1878 a house which had been closed all 

 winter when opened in April was found to be swarming with beetles of this 

 epecies. Where they came from or what they were attracted by is not known. 



DIFFERS FROM THE CROWK BORER. 



The larva of this insect very much resembles that of the crown borer 

 {Tyloderma fragarm) except that the former is slightly larger. But the 

 differences in the pupa and imago are very marked. The most striking dif- 

 ference perhaps is in the antennfe; in the crown borer they are straight with 

 joints of nearly uniform length, while in the crown-girdler they are elbowed, 

 with the first joint much longer than tlie others. Then, too, the former goes 

 through its metamorphoses in the excavated crown while the latter pupates in 

 the earth about the crown. These differences together with the different 

 modes of working, and times of development afford no excuse for confound- 

 ing the two insects. 



There is another insect which works in the crowns of strawberries which 

 might be confused with the crown-girdler; it is the cxo\^n-\n\wQX {Anarsia 

 lineatella). This is the caterpillar of a small moth belonging to the family 

 Teneido}, which mines the crowns in all directions. It can easily be distin- 

 guished from either the crown borer or crown-girdler by the possession of six 

 true legs, and a number of prolegs. 



FAMILY RELATIONS. 



The strawberry crown-girdler belongs to the family Oliorliyiichidm, one of 

 the principal families of the great group Rhyncophora; a group which con- 

 sists almost wholly of the insects of the family CurcuUonidce or snout bee- 

 tles as formerly considered. To this group belong the famous little Turk or 

 plum curculio, the plum gouger, the pea and bean weevils, the potato stalk 

 weevil, the white pine weevil, and many other of our worst insect pests. 



A species of the same genus {0. sulcalns) often injures strawberries in 

 Europe by girdling the crown in a manner similar to that of the species now 

 under consideration. It feeds on several other kinds of plants in the same 

 way, among them may be mentioned raspberries and various garden crops. 

 In the perfect state the insects devour the foliage of a large number of vines 

 and plants often doing very serious injury, especially to grapes. This species 

 has been introduced into America, being found in several eastern States, but 

 does not seem to have been as yet recognized as a pest. It is figured and 

 described in Prof. S. A. Forbes's report as State Entomologist of Illinois, for 

 1S83, p. 177. 



NATURAL ENEMIES. 



As yet no parasites have been bred from these insects, although a great 

 many have been confined for the purpose. The only insect enemies so far 

 discovered are the predaceous beetles of the family Carahid(B\ a number of 

 species of these were captured in the earth about the roots of the berries and 

 also under the mulch between the I'ows. One of them was confined over night 

 in a bottle in which a pupa of the weevil had been placed; tlie next morning 

 no trace of pupa was visible. 



