294 



INJURIOUS AND BENEFICIAL INSECTS OF CALIFORNIA. 



Nature of Work.— The beetles eat ragged holes in the leaves or com- 

 etely defoliate the plants. Buds and blossoms are also devoured. 



Distribution.— This beetle is 

 quite common throughout the 

 Slate, especially in the higher alti- 

 tudes. 



Food Plants. — The flowers and 

 buds of asters-"' and the foliage 

 of lilac 211 and other bushes are at- 

 tacked. The petals of the Cali- 

 fornia poppy are a favorite food 

 in some districts. 



Control. — The attacks of this 

 beetle, though at times quite 

 severe, are usually only of short 

 duration and control measures 

 under such conditions are hardly warranted. 



Fig. 289. — The infernal blister beetle 

 l.uttd stygica (Lee). Adult females, nat- 

 ural size. (Original) 



RHYNCOPHORA (Suborder) 



WEEVILS 



The name EkyncopJwra is given to beetles which are commonly known 

 as weevils, billbugs, snout beetles and curculios, because the front of 

 the head is prolonged into a snout at the tip of which are situated the 

 mouth-parts. The snout or beak may be long, slender and curved or 

 straight, stout and short. The labrum and palpi of the mouth-parts 

 are wanting and the antenna' are elbowed, enlarged at the tip and arise 

 from the sides of the snout. The body is short, stout, usually very 

 hard and sometimes covered with tine scales. The larva' are soft, white, 

 wrinkled, legless grubs which live wi'hin or on the tissues or stems 

 of plants, in fruits, nuts and vegetables and in bark or hard wood of 

 trees. There are six important families characterized as follows: 



1. Otiorhynchidce. — There is a scar at the tip of the mandibles; the 

 dorsum of the last abdominal segment of the male is divided trans- 

 versely so that this sex appears to have one more body segment than 

 the female. They are commonly known as scarred snout-beetles. 

 These beetles often become troublesome, especially in California, 

 where in the absence of the normal food plants, they invade the 

 orchards and gardens which have replaced the native vegetation. 



2. Curculionidce.— There is no scar at the tip of the mandibles, but 

 the males have the divided posterior segment as in the Otiorhynchidce. 

 There is a strong fold near the outer margin of the wing covers. The 

 adults are known as curculios. To this family belong the fruit and 

 nut curculios wdiich are so troublesome in other parts of the United 

 States. 



3. CaliDidridfP.— The last abdominal segment of both sexes is undi- 

 vided and vertical ; the tibiae are not serrate. The lateral edges of 

 the metathorax and abdomen fit into a groove in the wing-covers. The 



-"CMMs. Uerov, Mo. Bui. Cal. Hort. Com. Ill, p. 731, 1913. 

 ""Mo. Bui. Cal. Hort. Com. Ill, p. 668, 1913. 



