ORDER COLEOPTERA 207 



tree, from New England to Michigan and south to Florida. 

 It is a small, broad, black beetle three to four millimeters 

 long, with a stout beak about as long as the thorax and with 

 the front legs strongly incurved. In each of the front thighs 

 is a wide tooth with a serrated front margin. 



The females insert their eggs in a series along the midribs 

 of the leaves in the spring. The larvae, entering the tissue, 

 make large communal mines which inflate when dry. In 

 preparing for pupation each larva spins a rounded cocoon 

 of silk. These will be found clustered at one side of the 

 mine. Beetles have been taken only in the spring and there 

 is apparently but one generation a year. 



Fig. 65. Adult and larva of the leaf -mining weevil Orchestes pallicornis. 

 (After Houser.) 



Orchestes 



Of this large genus nine species have been taken in north- 

 eastern North America. Those whose transformations are 

 known are leaf-miners, chiefly on oaks, alders and willows. 

 As most of the species are rare or infrequent it is not surprising 

 that the biology of the group is incompletely known. Of the 

 nine only one has been discussed at any length in literature. 

 This species, the apple weevil miner or apple flea-weevil, 

 0. pallicornis, has been injurious to apple trees in Illinois 

 and has been studied by Forbes, Flint, and others. It is a 

 small black snout-beetle about an eighth of an inch long. 

 Its eyes are very large and almost meet in front. The beak 

 is only slightly curved and rather stout. The hind femora 

 or thighs are thickened and enable the beetles to leap about 



