171 



were dried or drooping ou the flower-stalks, while the other half had 

 fallen, the severed stem showing- where the insect had been at work. 

 Two of these injured sprays are shown in the accompanying figure. 



A similar appearance was presented in other badly damaged fields. 

 Only in very rare cases was every bud on a plant killed. 



Ho w Damage is done. — The princi j)al damage is done by the adult beetles 

 puncturing tlie pedicel or flower-stem a short distance below the flower- 

 buds. The order of proceeding has not been ascertained, but the egg 

 is deposited in the fully-formed bud which is attacked usually just 

 before blooming, and the stem is injured in such manner as to kill the 

 plant above the point of attack, causing the bud to droop, turn brown, 

 and die, afterwards in most cases to drop to the ground. The severed 

 ends of the stems present the appearance of having been girdled. The 



Fia. li.—Anthonomus signatus: a, b, Strawberry spray, showing work in bud and stem— natural 

 size; c, outline of egg ; d, larva; e, head of larva— much enlarged ; /, pupa; g, open bud, showing lo- 

 cation of egg on left and punctures made by snout of beetle on petals. (Original. ) 



buds are not severed outright, as far as can be ascertained, but remain 

 for a longer or shorter time on the vines before falling. Neither do 

 they always contain larvae, since some buds, particularly those that 

 were gathered late in the season, and which had been attacked and 

 killed, did not show when opened any evidence of having been perfor- 

 ated for any other purpose than for food. 



The flower-stems are cut at varying distances from the bud. An 

 eighth of an inch might be given as the average, but specimens are 

 commonly found that are punctured at both longer and shorter distances 

 from the bud, from a sixteenth or shorter, to one and three-quarters of 

 an inch and even longer. 



