1B2 WILLOW. [1899 



Osier beds near Barnes aud Mortlake ; and in Selby's ' Forest Trees * 

 (published 18i2), at p. 165, it is mentioned by the writer that he had 

 personally observed young trees of Willow attacked, and the wood 

 " riddled," as it were, by the grub of C. lapathi. Alders are also 

 subject to attack ; and in German observation Poplars and Birch are 

 also mentioned as liable to infestation. So also is a species of Dock 

 (/?»»)<'.)•),* from which circumstance the specific appellation of lapathi 

 has been given; but the correctness of the observation of the weevil 

 hemg fecdimj on the Dock (and not merely chancing to be on the plants 

 when growing under Willows) has been doubted. 



At the end of October, in the past season, Mr. Alex. G. Higgins, 

 writing from Bexhill-ou-Sea, Sussex, favoured me with the following 

 notes regarding attack to Willow, with specimens accompanying of the 

 injury caused by infestation to some small Willow stems, from a part 

 of one of which the figure (p. 131), showing the destructive extent to 

 which it had been tunnelled, is taken. Mr. Higgins remarked as 

 follows : — 



" I am sending you with this a box containing a couple of sections 

 of good- sized shoots of Willow (the long narrow-leaved variety), aud 

 you will perceive them, one in particular, to be tunnelled, principally 

 in the axis of the shoot, with short stout tunnels, which, in the recent 

 state, were filled with frass. What I believe to be exit-holes may be 

 seen on the outside bark. 



" In some of the tunnels, at one or other end, and dammed up by 

 the frass, I found, in some cases, the larva, more commonly the yellow 

 soft-bodied pupa, aud much more frequently the perfect ' imago,' one 

 of which I enclose. 



"As to any evidence of destructiveness, ... I can only say that on 

 the small shrub-like Willow plant I took the accompanying specimens 

 from, there were no very marked signs of internal insect ravages, ex- 

 cept the frass-plugged holes through the bark ; that is to say, but few 

 branches had died, and the foliage had apparently not suffered. All 

 the same, ... I should judge the tree will be ultimately killed, perhaps 

 in two or three years' time. 



"In the smaller of the two shoots, the single cavity there was 



• Lapathum of Tournefort is the scientific name of one of the two sections 

 of the genus Eumex, Linn., of the great order Polygonacece, Most of the species of 

 Euinex are known popularly as "Docks," with some prefix, as " Curled Dock," 

 " Sharp Dock," &c., and as some are especially to be found in watery places, it 

 seems likely enough that Cnjptorhijnchus lapathi, which frequents Willows and 

 Alders, should be found sometimes on these moisture-loving plants also. But as it 

 is not obvious at a glance what connection there may be between the specific 

 name of C. lapatlti and a " Dock," the above note may be of some interest. 



For botanical reference, see Sowerby's ' English Botany, vol. viii. p. 40 ; also 

 Babington's ' Manual of British Botany,' p. 271. 



