CLAY-COLOURED AND VINE WEEVIL. 213 



done by the beetle maggots at the roots is not entered on, it 

 is to be remembered tbat in regular course of life-history the 

 Legless maggots of these Otiorhjjnchus beetles feed on the roots 

 of the jDlants on which the beetles prey when they have com- 

 pleted their changes in the ground. 



With regard to damage by the same kind of infestation {namely, 

 O. jiicipes) to Strawberries, the following communication, sent 

 me on the part of Mr. Thomas May, of St. Mary Cray, Kent, 

 shows its enormous powers of devastation to this crop also: — 

 "I send you herewith two boxes containing grubs and beetles; 

 they are from a Strawberry field which has been completely 

 destroyed by them. You will find a cocoon in which a grub 

 is ensconced, also grubs partly transformed into beetles, and 

 also a complete beetle. These have been taken from the field 

 of Mr. Thomas May, of St. Mary Cray." Requests for infor- 

 mation as to the nature of the pest were sent accompanying, 

 and also mention that Mr. May considered he had lost Ji500 

 by its ravages. 



In the case of this attack, of which the notes were sent on 

 the 30th of May, the specimens were in different stages of 

 development, from half-grown grubs up to the perfectly deve- 

 loped weevil, showing the species to be 0. picijjes. 



From the exceeding resemblance of the grubs of 0. jyidpes 

 and 0. sidcatus, it is next to impossible to identify them 

 specifically without rearing some to maturity ; but taking 

 them generally as presumably of one of our common kinds of 

 Otiorhynclnis larvfe, I have had sj^ecimens sent me at the date 

 of February 18th in mild and open weather, which were then 

 working mischief steadily by gnawing chambers in the thick 

 parts of Strawberry roots ; and earlier in the year — that is, in 

 the month of January — I have had specimens of 0. sidcatus, 

 in beetle and pupal state, sent me from Maidenhair Ferns. 

 Severe cold does not appear to affect them, for in the case of 

 some observations made by myself on larvre of 0. sidcatus in 

 February in another year, when they were exposed in earth 

 in flower-pots to cold reading as low as 11*8°, they appeared 

 with scarcely any exception uninjured by the low temperature. 

 The larvfe were frozen stiff, but gradually regained flexibility, 

 and as afterwards I found 0. sidcatus at work in my garden, 

 wbere it had not been before, I presumed that practically as 

 well as experimentall}^ the grubs were none the worse for 

 having been frozen hard. 



A third species — 0. tenebricosus, or the Red-legged Weevil 

 — is also mentioned by John Curtis, in the ' Gardeners' 

 Chronicle ' for 1842, p. 316, as being very hurtful to garden 

 fruit trees. The beetles feed on the buds, young shoots, bark, 

 leaves, &c., of Apricots, Nectarines, Peaches, Plums, &c.; and 



