BLACK VINE WEEVIL. 363 



The weevils were in such numbers that tliiity of them were 

 secured in a few minutes from their daytime shelter around 

 the Strawberry roots. A female that was dissected contained 

 eggs fully developed. 



Prevention and Eemedies. — The habit of the weevils of 

 sheltering away from the light during the day is one great 

 help towards keeping them in check. They feed by night. 

 By day they hide away, either buried in earth by the walls 

 against which their food-trees are trained, or underneath 

 small clods round the stems of the trees on which they feed, 

 or in rough bark ; crevices where mortar has fallen out of old 

 garden walls often swarm with them, and generally they 

 shelter in any dark nook near at hand to their nightly resort. 



Where the attack was bad enough to make it worth while 

 to " sticky-band " the trees as for prevention of Winter Moth, 

 this would be a good plan, as the weevils, being wingless, 

 must travel on foot. But this plan would, of course, not be of 

 service for bush fruits such as Kaspberries, nor where the trees 

 were fastened to walls. 



In such cases (looking at the habits of the weevil of hiding 

 during the day in any crannies, or under clods of earth, 

 stones, or rubbish), it would be very desirable to keep fruit- 

 walls well pointed ; also that all clods of earth, &c., should be 

 cleared away that might serve as lurking-places. As they 

 especially go down close to the wall, it might answer to run a 

 line of ashes sprinkled with dilute parafhn, or with carbolic 

 acid diluted in the proportion of one part of acid to a 

 hundred of water, just along the junction of wall and ground. 



A band of any kind of rough, cheap, cart or axle grease, run 

 along the lowest part of the wall, would isolate it from attack, 

 if the trees were also properly sticky-banded. 



In the case of attack on Strawberry plants, and on the 

 larger scale of plantation fruit-growing, it would be easy to 

 find what khid of shelter the weevils preferred ; and by 

 placing some of this, whether slates, tiles, odd bits of thin 

 turf, or morsels of old ivaste sacking, on the ground by the 

 stems of the young trees, these would probably form excellent 

 traps, which might be cleared daily with little trouble. 



The best method of rcmcdij is based on the habit of the 

 weevils of dropping down off the bushes on any disturbance 

 when feeding at night, or if a light is Hashed on them. 



In 1878 the Piaspberry plots in the large fruit-gardens in 

 Gulval and part of Madron, in Cornwall, were injured by 

 weevil attack, the loss being estimated at many hundreds of 

 pounds. On two acres of Easpberry-ground at Gulval the 

 loss of crop from injury to the canes was estimated at one 



