ALFALFA ATTACKED BY THE CLOVER-ROOT CURCULIO. 3 
and October. They are particularly noticeable along roadsides, and 
’ the writer recently observed that in many cases the majority of the 
clover leaves m Middletown Valley between Mount Catoctin and South 
Mountain, Md., were eaten in this 
way, although the injury was not so 
noticeable in the clover fields adja- 
cent. The most serious injury, how- 
ever, is not to be charged to the beetle 
itself, but to the larva or grub. 
The eggs (fig. 4) are almost spher- 
ical, minute, and when first depos- 
ited are white, but after 24 hours 
change to a jet black. These eggs 
hatch to an almost equally minute 
white larva (fig. 5), the head of which 
is of a light chocolate brown. These b j 
grubs are without feet and therefore "sta, Tmedherremsulby: «imme 
ean not travel about readily. It is deposition. Greatly enlarged. (From Wil- 
in this stage that the insect attacks 9°?” 
the roots of clover and alfalfa and 
is particularly injurious. When this 
erub becomes full grown it passes 
from the grub stage into what is 
known as the pupal stage (fig. 6) 
during which it requires no food and 
consequently is not then injurious. 
Fic. 5.—The clover-root curculio: Larva. SEASONAL HISTORY. 
areatly enlarged. (From Wildermuth.) 
The clover-root curculio, as stated 
by Mr. Wildermuth, hibernates in the beetle form; 
hiding itself under rubbish and leaves on the surface 
of the ground, probably going into hibernation, in 
the latitude of Washington, some time in November. 
These beetles remain in their winter quarters until 
the first warm days of spring, when the females begin 
to lay their eggs upon the plants on the roots of 
which the young grubs are to feed. That these oper- 
ations begin at the earliest possible date is shown by 
the fact that beetles were observed pairing near 
Hagerstown, Md., by Mr. H. L. Parker, on Septem- 16. 6.—The clover- 
ber 12, 1914, while Mr. Wildermuth found that bee- Geodtis 1 Mies 
tles taken from the fields in October or November (From Wilder- 
and kept in a warm room would produce eggs almost ae 
immediately; or if they are brought in during the winter, the same 
thing is observed to take place. No eggs or oviposition have been 
observed in the fields in the fall. 
