99 



The species was tirst noticed in that section about live years previous 

 to the date of Avriting-, no one hav'ing seen thiMn earlier. The insect 

 was known by tlie name of the rose curculio. 



This curculio has been known for some time to live upon wild roses, 

 and as early as 18S9 was stated to feed upon both rose and raspl)erry 

 (James Cassidy, Bui. 6, Colo. State Agl. College Exp. Station, p. 18). 



June 2, 1891, Mr. Arthur Boyle, Santa Fe, N. Mex. , sent specimens 

 of this beetle with report that it was proving very injurious to roses 

 in that vicinity, where it had not been known as a pest ))efore. The 

 beetles were stated to be frequently caught with their long- snouts 

 buried deep in the rosebuds, and they seemed also to cut the stem or 

 otherwise injure the bud at the thin portion of the stalk below the 

 calyx. The bud afterwards dropped and died (Insect Life, Vol. IV, p. 

 137). In volume VII of the same publication (p. 211) this species is 

 stated })v Prof. T. D. A. Cockerell to be very troulilesome at Santa 

 Fe, N. Mex., by eating holes into 

 buds and bud-stalks of roses, as 

 well as the expanded petals. 



July 30, 1897, we received spec- 

 imens from Dr. E. V. Wilcox with 

 the statement that the beetles bore 

 holes into rosebuds and are much 

 complained of at Bozeman and 

 Missoula, Mont. 



This species is also stated to be 

 very common and destructive to 

 roses in Minnesota, destroying- 

 bo th flower-buds and flowers and 

 depositing- eggs in the fruit in 

 which the young mature (Lugger, 5th Annual Koport Entom. of Minn, 

 for 1899, p. 180). 



In the report of Mr. Alexander Craw as Quarantine Ofiicer and 

 Entomologist to the State Board of Horticulture of California for 

 1893-'94 (p. 86), mention is made of this species, with the statement 

 that it is frequently found on ripe l)lackberries and raspberries, punc- 

 turing the fruit with its beak and causing- it to decay. 



The rose curculio is one of the Rhynchophora tj^pical of the family 

 Rh3'nchitid», and may readily be known by its red thorax and elytra 

 and l)]ack ventral surface, snout, and legs. In eastern specimens the 

 colors are as indicated, but westward, in Colorado, specimens are found 

 in which the greater part of the head is red, including most of the 

 antenna? and the legs. The form of the insect is well illustrated at 

 figure 26. The rostrum, or snout, it will be noticed, is very long^ 

 nearly a third the length of the entire body, and the anteiuue are 

 slender, with a well-marked three-jointed club. The length, exclusive 

 of the snout, is a little less than a fourth of an inch (5 — 6 mm.). 



a c 



Fig. •IG.—Rhi/ncliitcs bicolor: a, female beetle; h, 

 claw; c, female in outline from side; o, c, enlarg- 

 ed; b, more enlarged (original). 



