2 
that constitutes the chief food supply of both larve and adults. This 
explains the well-known preference of the insect for such varieties as the 
‘“Sharpless,”’ “Charles Downing,’ ‘Jessie,’ and “ Wilson.’”? Among 
imperfect pistillates ‘" Crescents’’ are often attacked. A frequent source 
of damage is by the destruction of the staminates used in the fertilization 
of the pistillates, the product being dwarfed and unsalable fruit. The 
susceptibility of different varieties appears to be in direct proportion 
(1) to the quantity of pollen produced (2) to the amount of exposure of 
the buds and flowers to the sun. The beetle is a lover of hght and 
warmth, and it is during bright, sunshiny days that it works most 
actively. . 
It is fortunate, also, that this weevil, like so many other troublesome 
species, is more or less intermittent in the character of its attack, 
appearing in great abundance for one or more seasons in certain dis- 
tricts and doing a vast amount of damage, and then, without any 
apparent reason, relapsing into comparative obscurity, only to reappear 
after a number of years and in perhaps some new locality. 
This insect does not confine itself to the cultivated strawberry, 
although this appears to be its favorite food, but attacks in like manner 
wild strawberry, blackberry, dewberry, and occasionally the black-cap 
raspberry. The buds of the common yellow-flowered cinquetfoil ( Poten- 
tilla canadensis) and of the red-bud tree (Cercis canadensis) are simi- 
larly destroyed by the weevil. All of the above-mentioned plants serve 
as food for the larva. The adult beetles frequent also other flowers for 
feeding purposes. 
DISTRIBUTION AND INJURIOUSNESS. 
The strawberry weevil is a native species and widely distributed. Its 
present known distribution includes Canada from Prince Edward Island 
to Alberta, the Atlantic States and a portion of the Southern States, 
and it probably occurs in all the Middle States. Its exact range 
southward and westward has not been ascertained. At present it occu- 
pies what are known as the upper austral and transition zones and a 
portion of the boreal. 
This weevil was first noticed as injurious in 1871 at Silver Hill, Md. 
In the next twenty years injuries were reported during different seasons 
in localities in Missour1, Michigan—in both the upper and lower penin- 
sulas—Staten Island, New York, the Provinces of Ontario and Quebec 
in Canada, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. From that time till the present 
rather general injury has been noted in the berry-growing portions of 
Virginia, Maryland, and Delaware, and isolated instances of attack 
have been reported from New Hampshire, southern New Jersey, Penn- 
sylvania, and New York. 
As previously intimated, fruit-growers are so little familiar with 
the strawberry weevil and its work that our exact knowledge of its 
injuriousness is limited to reports from correspondents who have 
had the worst experience with this pest. From what is known, 
it is fairly positive that the strawberry, and occasionally also the 
blackberry, crops of Maryland and Virginia are annually levied 
upon by this pernicious little creature at the rate of from 5 to 20 per 
cent, a loss that seldom would be missed, or if noticed, might not 
be attributed to this weevil. We have credible information through 
correspondence that such. has been the condition in Virginia for 
