188 



INSECT CALENDAR. 



215. Pea Weevil and Maggot. 



arrested. Its presence can also be detected, it is said, by the 

 dark appearance of the bark, where the grub is at work : cut in 

 and pull out the j'oung grub. It is the best lime of the year to 

 catch and kill this pest. Cylindrical bark borers, which are lit- 

 tle round, black, weevil-like beetles, often causing "flre-blight" 

 in pears, etc., are now flying about fruit trees to lay their eggs; 



and many other weevils 

 and boring beetles, espe- 

 cially the Pea weevil (Bru- 

 chus pisi, Fig. 215), the 

 Pine weevil (Pissodes stro- 

 bi, Fig. 21G),and Hylobius 

 ^^ pales and Hylurgus tere- 

 brans, also infesting the 

 pine, now abound, and the 

 collector can obtain many 

 specimens not met with at 

 other times. 



The housewife must now guard against the intrusion of 

 Clothes moths (Tinea), while many other species of minute 

 moths (Tineids) and of Leaf-rollers (Tortricidte) will be flying 

 about orchards and gardens just as the buds are beginning to 

 unfold; especially the Coddling moth (Carpocapsa pomonella). 

 On warm days myriads of these and other insects may be seen 

 filling the air ; it is the busiest time of their lives, as all are on 

 errands of love to their 

 kind, but of mischief to 

 the agriculturist. 



When the May Flower 

 —"O commendable flowre 

 and most in minde" — 

 blooms, and the willows 

 hang out their golden cat- 

 kins, we shall hear the 

 hum of the wild bee, and 21G. Pine Wee-vil arid Young, 



the insect hunter will reap a rich harvest of rarities. Seek now 

 on the abdomen of various wild bees, such as Andrena, for that 

 most eccentric of all our insects, the Stylops Childreni. The 

 curious larvfe of the Oil beetle may be found abundantly on the 

 bodies of various species of Bombus, Andrena and Halictus, with 

 their heads plunged in between the segments of the bee's body. 



