CLOVER "PEAR-SHAPED WEEVILS. 



55 



ploughing or digging which only breaks up the surface and 

 scatters it about is probably hardly any good at all. 



It is also to be remembered that this Ttjlenchiis can survive 

 the operations of digestion in animals fed on fodder infested 

 by it. Therefore, if manure made from infested fodder is 

 carried out to the fields, the very identical Eelworms will in 

 all likelihood go back again to cause new mischief. 



For further notes on attack of this T. devastatrix, crops and 

 plants attacked by it, and various measures of cultivation by 

 which the attack may be met, see paper on " Tulip-root." 



Clover "Pear-shaped" Weevils. 



Apion apiicans, Herbst, = A. Jlavifenwratum, Kirby ; 

 A. asahnile, Kirby. 



/ 





6, 7, Apion apricans ; 2 — 5, maggot and pupa ; 8, 9, A. assimilc; 

 — all nat. size and magnified ; 1, maggot feeding, magnified. 



Apions, or "Pear-shaped Weevils" are very small beetles 

 with an oval body, to which such a long arched proboscis is 

 prefixed that the whole insect has much the form of a long- 

 stalked pear, whence its name. 



There are many species, some of which do great injury to 

 Clover ; the two kinds figured above are common on the Eed 

 or Purple Field Clover, TrifoUnm j^ratense. To the naked eye 

 both kinds are black or metallic-black, with the lowest joint 

 of the horns, all the thighs, and the shanks of the front pair 

 of legs of a yellowish colour, or some shade of brown or 

 reddish. In the A. apricans {suhfemoratum, Kirby) these 

 portions are described by Curtis as lighter or yellower than 

 in the other sj^ecies, and there are other differences, but these 

 are so slight that at one time the two kinds were considered 

 to be mere varieties; and there is a third kind (the A. trifolii), 

 which is very like the above both in shape and colour, which 

 is said to occur sometimes in large numbers on Purple Clover. 



