56 CLOVER. 



The Ajnoii apricans, more especially known as the "Purple- 

 Clover Weevil, " may be generally described as follows : — 

 Black ; proboscis curved. Horns black, with base of a 

 brownish yellow, and placed near the middle of the proboscis. 

 The thorax or fore body cylindrical, smaller before and punc- 

 tured. Head punctured, channelled between the eyes. Wing- 

 cases furrowed, with convex space between the furrows, and 

 the furrows punctured. Legs partly black, but all the thighs, 

 the shanks of the fore legs, and some of the smaller upper 

 portions yellow or reddish yellow. The maggot is of the 

 shape figured at 3, magnified, dusky white, with a reddish 

 horny head. 



The life-history is thus described by Dr. E. L. Taschen- 

 berg : — When wintering time is past the beetles pair ; after 

 this the females lay many eggs in the blossom-heads of the 

 Clover. The larvse, which soon hatch from these, feed on the 

 still unripe seeds and seriously injure the production of 

 Clover-seed. The maggot-infested plants may be easily 

 known by the rapid withering of the heads. By the time of 

 first cutting of the Clover the larvae are full-grown and 

 turned to pupte at the bottom of the flower, between the 

 dried-up blossoms of the heads."* 



From these chrysalids the weevils come out in about a 

 fortnight, or, in the case of autumn broods, may remain in 

 chrysalis state till spring. As the stages of their life-history 

 are gone through rapidly, there may be several generations 

 in one year ; the pests stored as maggots or chrysalids with 

 the harvested Clover will produce swarms of weevils to come 

 out and attack the blossoms of the second crop, and so 

 continue their generations, weather and crop permitting. 



In specimens sent to myself the attack was present in the 

 second crop, in one instance doing great harm to about fifty 

 acres of seeding Purple Clover, and similar mischief was then 

 being done to a serious extent near Bridgwater and West 

 Buckland, Somerset. I found the little whitish maggots at the 

 base of the florets just as described. 



Prevention and Piemedies. — When the maggots are feeding 

 in the forming seed, which may be known by the rusty or 

 prematurely withered appearance of the flowering heads, 

 nothing can be done to save the seed crop, and the best that 

 can be done is to mow the crop as soon as possible for hay. 



As a preventive measure the only thing which it seems 

 possible to do is to lessen the amount of weevil-presence in 

 the neighbourhood beforehand ; and as the points of this 



* ' rraktische Insektinkunde,' by Dr. E. L. Tasclienberg, Part II., p. 181. 



