THE VINE CUECULIO. 59 



CHAPTER XL VIII. 



THE VINE CURCULIO. 



( Orthorrliinus Kluggi^ Schon). 



Order : CoJeoptera. Family : Ctirculionidce. 



A couple of years ago cuttings of some iusect-infested 

 vines were sent to me hy Mr. Molineaux, Secretary of 

 the Agricultural Bureau, Adelaide, for examination and 

 identification, and, after splitting open the cutting, as 

 shown on Fig. II., I found the cutting to contain two 

 white grubs as here shown, which had utterly destroyed 

 the wood of the vine in question. Having placed the 

 cuttings in the breeding cage, 1 was somewhat surprised 

 to find, about twelve months after having placed them in 

 the box, the perfect beetles emerging from the wood, and 

 at once recoonised them as the above-named beetle. It 

 would appear that this pest is much more plentiful in 

 New South Wales than in Victoria, as Mr. Froggatt 

 mentions having received many complaints regarding the 

 ravages of the same insects, and he further remarks that 

 this beetle was fully described in a note read by the late 

 Sir William McLeay, before the Linneau Society of New 

 South Wales, as far l)ack as 1883, giving an account of 

 them having attacked vines in the Parramatta district ; 

 also by the late Mr S. OllifFin 1894. 



This small but pretty little beetle is slightly less than 

 that shown in our Fig. IV., and is about 3^ lines in 

 length, of a reddish-brown colour with light markings 

 (see Figs. HI. and V.), which are of course highly mag- 

 nified, the markings being somewhat fainter than is shown 

 on our plate. 



