INSECTS INJURING OAK-LEAVES. 203 



284. The leaf-rolling weevil. 



Attelabus bipustulatus Fabr. 



Order Coleoptera; family Curculionid.e. 



Rolling up the leaves of the red, post, and laurel oak (Q. imbricaria), late in April, 

 forming compact, cylindrical cases containing a single egg ; the case dropping to the 

 ground, the larva after hatching feeding on the food around it, and finally transform- 

 ing into a long-snouted weevil. A second brood of larvae in July, (Murtfeldt.) 



This beetle has the curious habit of rolling up a leaf, trimming and 

 tucking in the lower ends with her beak. The egg is first deposited near 

 the tip of the leaf, and a little to one side ; the blade of the leaf is then 

 cut through on both sides of the midrib, about an inch and a half be- 

 low ; a row of punctures is made on each side of the midrib of the sev- 

 ered portion, which facilitates folding the leaf together, upper surface 

 inside, after which the folded leaf is tightly rolled up from the apex to 

 the transverse cut, bringing the egg in the center; the concluding oper- 

 ation is the tucking in and trimming off the irregularities of the ends. 

 A few days after completion the cases, first observed the latter part of 

 April, drop to the ground; by May 15 several larvse hatched and fed on 

 the dry substance of their nest, and by the end of May they pupated 

 within the nest; this state lasted from five to seven days, the first 

 beetles issuing by June 2, while a second brood of larvae may be found 

 early in July. (Murtfeldt.) 



" On the leaves of the laurel oak, in the neighbor- 

 hood of St. Louis, Mo., are often found in May little 

 thimble-shaped cases, which are the work of the above 

 insect. The tips of the leaves are folded and rolled up 

 into that peculiar shape after the egg has been de- 

 posited. 



" The egg is almost globular, slightly ovoid, tender, 

 pale yellowish, and translucent. It is deposited near 

 the tip on the under side of the leaf. The leaf is then ^i<^- ei.-Atteiabtis 



. . ,, . , , . bipustulatus. — 



cut transversely near its middle, punctured a short smith del. 

 distance each side of midrib, which causes it to fold 

 with its lower side out, then curled round, and the outer edges tucked 

 in." (Eiley's unpublished notes.) 



The larva. — Average dorsal length, 0.22 inch; diameter on abdominal segments, 0.06 

 inch, tapering anteriorly from fourth segment. Yellowish white ; thoracic segments 

 slightly depressed on the back and smaller beneath ; abdominal segments convex 

 above and flat beneath, each one divided into three irregular shallow transverse folds, 

 lateral surfaces with a double row of smooth polished oval tubercles, most symmetrical 

 in form and position from segments 4 to 11 inclusive ; above the tubercles on each 

 segment is a deep depression. Head horizontal, rounded, small, about half the diam- 

 eter of segment next behind, into which it retreats; white, the mandibles and other 

 mouth parts reddish brown, surrounded by long hairs. 



