affecting the Clover-crops and Pasture-lands. 43 



my purpose to describe these insects, detail their economy, and 

 suggest remedies against their invasions. 



1. CuRCULio (or Sitona) lineata {Linn.) 



having been described and figured in a previous report, I need 

 only refer to it to identify this pest ; but as at that time I was not 

 fully aware of its extensive presence in clover-leys, this portion of 

 its history will be useful and instructive. 



It is a remarkable fact, that, abundant as this insect is, and a 

 species well known to Linnaeus and men of science for more 

 than a century, we are still ignorant of its entire economy. No 

 one knows where the female lays her eggs ; no one knows where 

 the maggots feed, or where they change to pupfB. I imagine the 

 eggs are deposited in the earth, and that, when hatclied, the 

 larv(B feed on the roots of the clover ; but this remains to be 

 proved, and it would be a most valuable discovery, well worthy 

 the attention of those who find it in abundance on their crops. 



These weevils, which sometimes swarm to an extraordinary 

 amount in clover-fields, completely riddle the leaves, reducing 

 them to skeletons. We need not recapitulate the facts which 

 were communicated by Mr. Trenchard and Mr. C. Parsons, and 

 recorded by us in our report on the pea-crops in the volume just 

 referred to. It may, however, be stated that nothing regarding 

 their transformations has been since discovered, and consequently 

 no remedies can be suggested for their extirpation beyond those 

 already recommended in that report. 



Whilst the Curculio lineatas confines itself to the destruction of 

 the foliage of the clover, there is a family of minute beetles or 

 weevils, called Apions, which not only devour the leaves, but 

 destroy the seeds also. They are pear-shaped, black or bluish, 

 having a long rostrum or beak, at the extremity of which is 

 placed the mouth. They are very active, running about and 

 falling down on the approach of any one, and they ai'e furnished 

 with ample wings * for flight. The first of these little pests is 

 named 



2. Apion Africans, Herhst ; A. flavifemoratum, Kirhy (PI. W., 

 fig. 7 ; 8 magnified) ; or the Pui-ple-clover Weevil. 



It is shining, bluish-black, pear-shaped, the body being oval 

 and tapering from the thorax, so that the head is elongated into 

 a slender proboscis, which forms, as it might be termed, the stalk 

 of the pear. At the extremity of this beak is placed the minute 

 mouth, which is composed of two horny mandibles or jaws 



* Mr. Markwick was mistaken in supposing Ajnon flmifemoy-atum had no wiugs ; 

 for they are twice as long as the wing-cases in both sexes. 



