REPORT OF THE ENTOMOLOGIST AND BOTANIST 187 



SESSIONAL PAPER No. 16 



other places where they are decidedly objected to by housekeepers. Neither the Black 

 Vine Weevil nor the Sleepy Weevil have wings; so they cannot fly like most other 

 beetles and can only move from place to place by crawling. 



The Strawberry Weevil {AnthonormLS signatus. Say). — It is some years since 

 a bad outbreak of the Strawberry Weevil has occurred in Canada; but in Jujne last I 

 learnt from Mr. Sydney H. Preston, of Clarkson, Ont., which is a few miles west of 

 Toronto and an important strawberry producing district, that a great deal of damage 

 was being done in the extensive strawberry plantations of that locality. Mr. Preston 

 writes :— 



* Clarkson, June 9. — I inclose some strawberry blossoms cut by the insects which 

 are sent with them in the box. They are doing a great deal of damage in this locality.' 

 ' June 17. — I grow only a few strawberries for my own use and have not seen the 

 weevils on my own place, though I find many buds and blossoms and small berries cut 

 through the stem, as in the inclosed sample; but my neighbours are all large growers 

 and the complaint of damage is general. The cutting of the fruit stems is also attri- 

 buted to this insect, but possibly that may be a mistake. Last season was the first in 

 this locality that the injury was noticeable, and many growers then feared that their 

 crops would be ruined. However, there seemed to be an abundance of fruit in spite 

 of this.' 



The habits of the Strawberry Weevil are interesting. It passes the winter in the 

 mature beetle form, and, just before the flowers of the strawberry unfold, the insects 

 fly to the strawberry beds and may be found in large numbers upon the flowering 

 stems. When the female lays her eggs, she punctures a closed bud, for which purpose 

 she generally chooses the earliest and largest. This is done with her sharp and slender 

 beak, and the hole penetrates to the centre of the bud. She then deposits a single 

 egg, pushing it down into the hole. Having done this, she crawls to the stem of the 

 flower and gnaws it nearly throiTgh, so that the bud hangs dovsTi and eventually drops 

 to the ground. Inside the cut ofl' bud the young grub hatches and passes through all 

 of its stages, the dead flower remaining closed around it as a protection. When the 

 grub is full-grown, it forms a brittle cocoon of the debris, and in about a month from 

 the time the egs is laid, the perfect beetle eats its way out. T!he njew generation of 

 beetles may frequently be found at Ottawa in the latter half of July and early in 

 August. There is only one brood of this beetle, as far as known, and, as all the beetles 

 disappear suddenly in the beginning of August, it is supposed that they go into hiber- 

 nation at that time, hiding away beneath moss or among bushes and perhaps in woods, 

 where they remain in a lethargic condition until the following spring. The varieties 

 of strawberries chosen by the females for egg-laying are always those which produce 

 pollen in considerable quantities, and it is chiefly upon the pollen that the larva? feed. 

 Varieties of strawberries with entirely pistillate flowers are not attacked ; consequently, 

 when the Srawberry Weevil is abundant, growers will do well to plant pistillate varie- 

 ties as much as possible, and only enough plants of varieties which produce perfect 

 flower® (which have both stamens and pistils) as will ensure the proper fertilization 

 of the fruit. The number will to a large measure depend upon the variety grown and 

 the number of flowers produced. Among the standard varieties of strawberries most 

 highly recommended by Mr. W. T. Macoun, the Horticulturist of the Central Experi- 

 mental Farm, the following may be mentioned as having proved the most satisfactory 

 for general purposes, after being tested for several years : — 



Pistillate. Perfect. 



Sample. Glen Mary. 



Buster. Beder Wood. 



Bisel. Enhance. 



Greenville. William's. 



Marie. Lovett. 



Warfield. Pocom^oke. 



