dent many years ago, probably from Europe, and now known to occur 

 from New England to North Carolina and Wisconsin, attacks the clover 

 plants in spring after they have made sonic growth and. in cases of ex- 

 cessive abundance, leaves the ground as hare of clover in May as it was 

 in December. It does not, however, injure the roots, and soon the 

 plants spring up and the fields become as green with clover as before, 

 the final result being that only the blooming is retarded. That this 

 delay is fatal to the midge has been shown, again and again, by the 

 heavy crops of seed that have been secured from fields overrun with the 

 weevils in May. A further complication is found in the fact that the 



Fig. ].— The clover-leaf weevil (Phytonomus pttnetatus): a, egg; b, b, h. b. 

 larva' feeding; <■. recently hatched larva; <l, head of same from beneath; 

 ■ .jaw ofsame; f.cocoon; q, meshes of cocoon; h, pupa; i, beetle; /.same, 

 in outline: k. same, dorsal view: /. tarsus of beetle; >», antenna » > I" same 

 [b, f, i. natural size; others more or less enlarged). (From Riley.) 



clover-leaf weevil does not become excessively abundant and eat off the 

 clover every sitting, because a fungous parasite attacks the larvae, causes 

 them to die off by myriads, and thus keeps the insect greatly reduced 

 in numbers. 



To summarize, the clover-seed chalcis attacks an important seed 

 crop; but the flower midge destroys the ovaries before these have been 

 fertilized by the bees and seed developed, thus checking the chalcis: 

 the leaf weevil, however, eats off the clover plants in spring, so that 

 blooming is delayed until after the midge is obliged to deposit its eggs, 

 thus restricting its breeding: while the insect-destroying fungus keeps- 



