26 



to be honeycombed, iind fifty or more of the grnhs were obsiM-A^d. 

 They were stated to ))e quite active and capable of traveling- some little 

 distance, and to be noisy when at work, making a sound like the 

 escape of water with an occasional screech like a choked hen. 



April 4, 1902, Mr. \Y. F. Fiske, Atlanta, Ga., sent fragments of 

 this beetle, taken from its cocoon in the trunk of Sahal pOinetto^ 

 the tree having- died and the ciown fallen. Other trees in the 

 neighborhood were killed and some showed evidence of attack. 



DESCRIPTIVE. 



The heeih'. — The general appearance of the beetle is shown in figure 1, at n. The 

 thorax, and frequently the elytra, are usually more or less reddish; sometimes both 

 are decidedly reil, marked with black spots which form a pattern more or less like 

 that depicted. The under surface is also partly red and i)artly black, but frequenlly 

 specimens are met with which are entirely l)lack, some decidedly polished, and 



Fig. 1.— Palmetto weevil (Rynchophorus crtientatun) : a, male beetle; 6, head and appendages of 

 female from side; c, larva; fl, head of same; e, last ventral segment seen from above; /, pnpa— 

 o, c,/, slightly enlarged; h, d, c, more enlarged (original). 



Others dull and velvety. The body above is depressed and, as with other weevils, 

 the head is prolonged into a snout, wdiich is comi)aratively short and very rough in 

 the male, while in the female it is longer and more slender and almost perfectly 

 smooth along the upper surface. (Compare a and b, fig. 1, the latter a side view of 

 the female head with snout and antenna. ) The antennae are geniculate or elbowed, 

 as in most curculios of this group, and the last joint is strongly expanded. The 

 elytra, or wing-covers, are deeply striate or furrowed, as shown in the figure. The 

 legs are fringed on the inner surface with long reddish-yellow hairs, and the tip of 

 the tibia bears a long apical spur and two shorter teeth. The length, exclusive of 

 the snout, measures from eight-tenths of an inch to upward of an inch and an 

 eighth. A technical description is furnished on page 408 of Dr. Horn's paper enti- 

 tled "Contributions to a knowledge of the Curculionidfc of the United States." 

 (Proceedings American Philosophical Society, 1873.) 



The larva is shown in figure 1, at c. It very closely resembles that of li. palmarum, 

 which is figured in l)oth the articles of Messrs. Guilding and Blandford. It is of 

 robust form and somewhat different from any other rhynchophorous larva that has 



