28 PSYCHE . [April 



the leaf. In nearly every nest examined the egg was placed on the under or pubescent 

 side but the tip had been bent back against the smooth surface and the egg had become 

 the very center of the roll. Out of the dozens of nests opened only one was found 

 to have two eggs, all the rest contained but a single, yellow, translucent egg. Dr. 

 Packard states, "Before the leaf is entirely rolled, she deposits a single egg, rarely 

 two, in the middle, next the mid rib, in a little cavity, where it lies loose." He also 

 describes the egg as being nearly spherical, though a Httle longer than thick, .04 of an 

 inch long, by .03 of an inch in diameter. 



The leaf, by the time oviposition has been completed, has become very much 

 wrinkled and wilted so as to be easily manipulated in any way. It may be the object 

 of the biting process to accomplish this result more quickly by weakening the leaf by 

 cutting so many small fibres and causing the sap to evaporate more rapidly. 



The female with her snout and fore legs now crumples up the tip of the leaf with 

 the egg in the center for the beginning of the roll, at the same time folding the leaf so 

 as to bring the two smooth halves together. It is then rolled up with the mid-vein 

 as one edge of the roll and the doubled serrated edge as the other. The rolling is 

 done by the tibial spurs and the jaws which are much stouter and thicker than those 

 of the male. When the serrated edge of the roll becomes twisted at times like the 

 top of a paper bag, the snout and jaws are thrust into the end of the roll until the head 

 is out of sight, and the protruding edges are tucked carefully within while the legs are 

 used to pull the edges of the roll together and hold them for several seconds in this 

 position. One weevil was timed from the commencement of the biting and wrinkling 

 process until she stood on the completed roll taking a rest ; it was almost exactly one 

 hour. This seemed a shorter time than usual which may be accounted for by the 

 fact that there had been no interruptions. 



During my observations in 1904, at Wales, while the leaf was being wrinkled, 

 there appeared from two to six small, green-bodied hymenoptera with conical abdo- 

 mens on each leaf. They either followed the female weevil at a short distance or 

 remained at rest on different parts of the leaf. The male weevil would, apparently, 

 make efforts to drive them away, once even pushing one from the leaf with his snout, 

 but no attempt to bite them was observed. A leaf v^'as picked on which a weevil had 

 just oviposited and on w^hich were four of these hymenoptera; while held in the hand 

 two of them evidently oviposited and immediately left. No egg could be seen. 



At Monmouth in 1905, not more than one of these parasites could be found 

 attending a weevil, and then only after the rolling process had been started. The 

 insect ran about or rested on the upper part of the leaf. When ovipositing, it generally 

 selected a place on the side of the roll that was about to be covered by the next fold; 



