66 INSECTS OF MASSACHUSETTS. 



nasicus of Say ; the long-snouted nut-weevil. Its form is oval, 

 and its ground color dark brown ; but it is clothed with very 

 short rust-yellow flattened hairs, which more or less conceal its 

 original color, and are disposed in spots on its wing-covers. The 

 snout is brown and polished, longer than the whole body, as slen- 

 der as a bristle, of equal thickness from one end to the other, and 

 slightly curved ; it bears the long elbowed antennas, which are as 

 fine as a hair, just behind the middle. This beetle measures 

 nearly three tenths of an inch in length, exclusive of the snout. 

 It is found in September and October, and more rarely in July, at 

 which time it probably lays its eggs. As it does not come out till 

 the autumn, it must pass the winter concealed in some secure 

 place. From its size and resemblance to the nut-weevil of Eu- 

 rope, it may be the species which attacks the hazel-nut here. 



It is now well known that the falling of unripe plums, apricots, 

 peaches, and cherries is caused by little whitish grubs, which bore 

 into these fruits. The loss of fruit, occasioned by insects of this 

 kind, is frequently very great ; and, in some of our gardens and 

 orchards, the crop of plums is often entirely ruined by the depre- 

 dations of grubs, which have been ascertained to be the larvae or 

 young of a small beetle of the weevil tribe, called Rhynchanus 

 (Conotrachelus) Nenuphar*, the Nenuphar or plum-weevil. I 

 have found these beetles as early as the thirtieth of March, and as 

 late as the tenth of June, and at various intermediate times, 

 according with the forwardness or backwardness of vegetation in 

 the spring, and have frequently caught them flying in the middle 

 of the day. They are from three twentieths to one fifth of an 

 inch long, exclusive of the curved snout, which is rather longer 

 than the thorax, and is bent under the breast, between the fore- 

 legs, when at rest. Their color is a dark brown, variegated with 

 spots of white, ochre-yellow, and black. The thorax is uneven ; 

 the wing-covers have several short ridges upon them, those on the 

 middle of the back forming two considerable humps, of a black 

 color, behind which there is a wide band of ochre-yellow and 

 white. Each of the thighs has two little teeth on the under-side. 



•First described by Herbst, in I7 ( J7, under the name of Curculio Nenuphar', 

 Fabricius redescribed it under that of Rhijnrhanus Argula} and Dejean has named 

 it Conotrachelus variegatus. 



