42 B. C. ENTOMOLOGICAL PROCEEDINGS, 1912. 



life history. There are a number of points which require more corrobo- 

 ration by further experiments, consequently I wish this paper to be con- 

 sidered more or less in the light of a preliminary report founded on a few 

 months' observations taken during the past summer (1912). 



The weevil has been assigned a variety of names. We will find it 

 referred to as the "Pitchy legged Otiorhynchus," "the Strawberry Crown 

 Girdler" and the "Sleepy Weevil." I prefer to give it the name which 

 heads this paper — the Strawberry Root Weevil — because it seemed to 

 me that none of the names assigned to it are really applicable to its 

 nature or appearance. It does not appear to affect the crown in any 

 instance that I have observed, and it only feeds, I believe, on the roots 

 of the plant which permeate the ground in all directions and which 

 arise in a mass from the crown. Larvae can be found feeding on the 

 fine roots 6 to 8 inches deep in the ground, and at depths varying from 

 this to the roots on the immediate surface of the ground. Its numbers so 

 far exceed those of its near relative, O sulcatus, that I feel justified in 

 claiming this insect, under B. C. conditions, as the prime injurious spe- 

 cies of the two and therefore more worthy of bearing the general name 

 of the Strawberry Root Weevil or "Root Girdler." 



Distribution. 



This insect occurs in B. C. at Hammond, Haney, Mission, Hatzic, 

 Agassiz, Burnaby, on the shore of North Vancouver, in the Victoria 

 district and in the interior at Vernon. Its distribution probably is 

 general in the province, but at present it is only on the immediate coastal 

 districts of B. C. that it has become an economic pest of first magnitude. 



The Individual Egg. 



Is very minute, almost spherical, breadth .25mm. When freshly 

 laid it is milky white in color, changing after a day to a pale shade of 

 brown ; the bounding membrane is hard and firm, and there does not 

 appear to be any mucilaginous material on the exterior to retain it se- 

 curely in the position it may be deposited in the soil or on the crown of 

 the plant. The period of incubation lasts in the neighborhood of 21 

 days. 



The Individual Larvae 



Is characteristic of weevil larvae in shape and color ; body lightly 

 covered with minute hairs, white, sometimes colored pink or grey from 

 the nature of the contents of the intestines, and slightly curved. The 

 head is white at hatching, and after each moult, smooth, gradually assum- 

 ing a light shade of brown as age increases ; mouth parts a darker shade 

 of brown to the color of the head. 



