APPLE-BLOSSOM WEEVIL. 801 



magpiot, legless, with a few hairs, and a hlack horny head 

 (see fig. 3, mag., p. 300). 



The maggot turns to an ochry or rusty coloured chrysalis 

 of the shape of the beetle, only with its limbs still folded 

 beneath it (see fig. 4, mig., p. 300j in the injured bud ; and 

 here, under the shelter of the brown unexpanded blossom- 

 leaves the weevils develop from the chrysalids in about a 

 month from the time when the eggs were laid, and disperse 

 themselves over the tree, where they are said to injure the 

 leafage, but the most important damage is that which they 

 cause to the flower buds. 



These beetles are of the shape figured above, of a reddish 

 brown colour, with three indistinct stripes of a paler colour 

 on the body behind the head ; the wing-cases have a large 

 pitchy-coloured patch, with a pale oblique stripe on it, and 

 two ochreous spots towards the tip. 



They pass the winter in chinks and crannies, or under loose 

 pieces of the bark, or under clods of earth or stones, and 

 come out when the flower buds are swelling in spring, when 

 the males may be seen flying round the trees, and the females 

 are mentioned by John Curtis as generally crawling along the 

 branches, although they also are furnished with wings.* 



Peevention and Kemedies. — Much good can be done by 

 clearing away all rubbish round the trees that may serve for 

 shelter during the winter, and also by removing rough, useless 

 bark, and generally keeping the stems and branches of the 

 trees in a well -tended condition. 



Where the bark is clean and in good order there will be few 

 hiding-places on the trees, and it would be of service to 

 syringe a mixture of any deterrent wash that would not hurt 

 the bark or leaves on to the trees when the beetles are 

 beginning to move about in spring. This would lodge in the 

 crannies where the weevils especially hide, and kill them 

 if they were there, or if they were moving about on the 

 boughs would clear many off. The weevils fall to the ground 

 on being alarmed, and at egg-laying time many might be 

 shaken down from the trees on to cloths spread below, and 

 thus got rid of at an expense which would certainly be 

 remunerative in garden cultivation, and worth a trial for 

 orchard ground in cases where seriously bad attack was 

 known to be going on. 



Where trees stand in bare ground, stirring the surface in 

 winter so as to turn the weevils out to the birds would do 

 good ; and there appears to be reason to think that sticky- 



* For history of A. pomorum by John Curtis (Ruricola), from which part 

 of the above is extracted, see ' Gardener's Chron.' 18-14, p. 550. 



