1899] 



MOTTLED WILLOW WEEVIL, 



131 



tion, will find much of interest in Prof. Gwyn Jeffreys' ' Conchology,' 

 referred to at p. 128, where also a large number of references are 

 given — names of writers, or observers, of the Testucellce, from 1740 

 onwards. But I am not aware of what may be called practical notes 

 of observations of the creatures in situ in our own gardens having been 

 given attainably for reference, and the very useful though unpre- 

 possessing creatures appear to be usually so wholly unknown to their 

 garden observers, that the above notes may be of service in pointing 

 out that, though unpleasant in appearance and disgusting in the 

 details of their Worm-feeding habits, they are really very useful. 



WILLOW. 



The Mottled Willow Weevil. Cnj/ttorhynchus lapathi, L. 

 "Alder-killer" (German). 



S.C.K 



Cryptoehynchus lapathi. 



-Beetle, natural size and magnified ; Willow stem 

 tunnelled by larvae. 



The very pretty little beetle figured above is not often reported as 

 causing much harm, but it is widely distributed in England, and to 

 some degree in the more southerly parts of Scotland, and was known 

 as injurious to Willows at least so far back in date as about 1840. 



The Willow is the tree which is recorded as most liable to its 

 attacks. In 1838 * it is mentioned as exceedingly abundant in the 



* See Loudon's ' Arboretum et Fruticetum,' vol. iii. p. 14. 



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