256 MANUAL OF VEGETABLE-GARDEN INSECTS 



beetle with a brassy luster, yV to J inch in length. The weevils 

 are injurious in late summer and fall. In feeding they punc- 

 ture the buds and young fruits with their beaks and the female 

 deposits her small white oval eggs, about gV ii"ich in length, in 

 the cavities so made. The eggs hatch in two to four days and 

 the young grubs feed on the surrounding tissue. The injured 

 buds are blasted and the infested fruits usually drop pre- 

 maturel3\ The grubs become mature in about two weeks. 

 They are then about ^ inch in length, white and strongly curved. 

 When about to pupate, the larva constructs a cell of excrement 

 and bits of decayed tissue inside the fruit. The pupa is light 

 amber in color, about i inch in length and rather robust in 

 form. From six to ten days are spent in this stage. Soon after 

 transformation the beetle leaves the pupal cell but remains 

 within the fruit until thoroughly hardened, when it gnaws out 

 an exit hole through the pod. 



The pepper weevil may be controlled by collecting and 

 burning all infested fruits once a week during the egg-laying 

 period of the weevils. It is not advisable to grow peppers 

 year after year on the same land. In Mexico spraying with 

 paris green is said to have been found of some value for the 

 control of this pest. 



References 



U. S. Bur. Ent. Bull. 54, pp. 43-48. 1905. 

 U. S. Bur. Ent. Bull. 63, pp. 55-58. 1907. 



OtJier pepper insects 



Corn ear-worm : 211 



Serpentine leaf-miner : 40 



Spinach aphis : 105 



Southern leaf-footed plant-bug : 121 



Tomato worm : 168 



Nezara viridula: 43 



Belted cucumber beetle : 115 



Colorado potato beetle : 142 



