356 JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGY [VoL 3 



Subglobular. lateral gall with dead area on one side, diameter 9 mm. 



Rhahdophaga gJohosa Felt. 

 Irregular, ovoid or subglobular galls, diameter 1 to 2 cm. 



Rhahdophaga batatas Walsh. 



Same gall as above Rhahdophaga ramuscuhi Felt. 



Same gall dried Asynapta saliciperda Felt. 



Subglobose galls, the surface scarred, diameter 4 mm. 



Mayetiola tumidosce Felt. 



SOME NEW SPECIES OF WEEVILS OF ECONOMIC 

 IMPORTANCE 



By W. DwiGHT Pierce, U. S. Bureau of Entomology, Dallas, Texas 



I beg the indulgence of my colleagues for combining in a single 

 article purely taxonomic matter with a discussion of biologic and eco- 

 nomic subjects. j\Iy plea is that the course I follow shows in a rather 

 striking manner the close interrelationsliip between the economic and 

 systematic branches of our science. 



In a recent publication on the "Parsley Stalk Weevil (Listronotus 

 latiuscidus Boh.)," Dr. F. H. Chittenden cites examples of serious 

 damage done by the semi-aquatic weevils Listronotus appendicidatus 

 Boheman and Notaris puncticollis LeConte to cabbage in Ohio, and 

 by Listronotus latiusculus Boheman to parsley in Virginia. He cites 

 in addition, the tendency of the genus Sphenophorus to attack corn 

 (Bur. Ent., bul. 82, part II, p. 14). These are all examples of the re- 

 sults of planting crops on newly drained land, when weevils which 

 normally inhabit marshes have depredated on cultivated crops. 



This brief notice describes a phenomenon in the biologies of weevils 

 which is by no means uncommon, although perhaps not well under- 

 stood as yet.^ There are among our American weevils several very 

 sharply defined groups of forms without wings or with rudiments of 

 wings only. The classification of LeConte and Horn overlooks this 

 important character and by raising other characters to primary im- 

 portance has obscured it and dissociated what appear to the writer 

 to be nearly related forms. The majority of these wingless weevils 

 pass their developmental period in the ground at the roots of plants. 

 Whenever it happens that land is cleared, and the plants eliminated 

 have been the hosts of multitudes of these weevils, it is almost certain 



^This paper deals only with weevils, however workers in other groups 

 will recognize the existence of the same phenomenon. 



