288 Forty-fourth Report on the State Museum 



without moulding. They are extensively grown in the south of 

 Europe. French catalogues advertise leniillon de printem^ya smdlentiUon 

 d'hiver, and in German catalogues they are designated as the large, 

 and the small, lentil. 



Mr. J. Fletcher, Entomologist of the Dominion of Canada, informs 

 me : " The lentil is not grown as a crop in Canada. Two or three 

 varieties are raised in small quantities at the Hungarian and the Bohe- 

 mian settlements north of Whitewood in our Northwest Territories, but 

 the seed is not quoted in any of our seed catalogues, which is a good 

 criterion as to the demand. Experiments in cultivating lentils in this 

 district a few years ago were a failure, as the crop obtained did not 

 prove remunerative."* 



The imported lentil. Lens esculenta, as found in the Albany market, 

 is a small, yellowish or brownish seed, flattened to the shape of a 

 double-convex lens, averaging less than one-fourth of an inch in diame- 

 ter and with a maximum thickness of one-eighth of an inch; it grows 

 in a small, broad, two-seeded pod. The seed would seem almost too 

 small to contain the Bruchus lentis, as its shortest diameter is less 

 than the length of the weevil. But this seeming difficulty is obviated 

 by the position of the pupal cell of the Bruchus, which is always 

 inclined to the surface of the seed, as may be seen in the bean-weevil, 

 so that the beetle, lying within its cell, may give to its beak the sweep 

 required for cutting the circular lid for its escape. 



Possibly the " large lentil " of the German catalogues is the one 

 used for feeding to animals in Europe, and not imported here, and 

 the variety more liable to Bruchus attack. Baudi, in his description 

 of the insect, does not give the scientific name of the lentil, but 

 merely states — " frequens in lente." 



Conotrachelus nenuphar (Herbst). 



The Plum Gurculio. 

 (Ord. Coleoptkra: Fam. Curculionid^.) 



Curculio nenuphar. Herbst : Natursyst. bekann. in- und ausland. Insec- 

 ten. vii, 1797, p. 29. 



Conotrachelus nenvphar. Harris: Ins. New Engl., 1852, pp. 65-71; Ins. 

 Inj. Veg., 1862, pp. 75-82, figs. 39, 40. 



Conotrachelus nenuphar. Walsh : in Practical Entomologist, ii, 1867, 

 pp. 75-79 (natural history and remedies). — Riley : 1st Eept. Ins. Mo., 

 1869, pp. 50-62 (nat. hist, rem., &c.)— Saunders : Insects Injurious 

 to Fruits, 1883 and 1889, pp. 180-187, figs. 192-200 (nat. hist, rem., nat 

 enemies, &c.)— Riley-Howard : in Eept. Commis. Agricul. for 1888, 

 pp. 57-79, plate I and XII. 



♦I have since learned, through Professor E. S. Goff, of Madison, Wisconsin, that 

 lentils, in two kiads, are grown as a market crop, in Manitowoc county, Wise, and 

 more extensively in Kewaunee county. They are a good crop and sell, at present, at 

 $2.26 per 60 lbs. They are not infested with the weevil. 



