178 



lu making the puneture the insect uses its whole body, all three 

 pairs of legs performing their part. The insect's beak is worked, rather 

 slowly, from side to side, and as the l)eak penetrates, the forelegs are 

 gradually spread wider and wider apart as if pulling, while the 

 hind i>air are correspondingly elevated as if they were used to pusli 

 the snout deeper, the middle pair of legs being used as a fulcrum. 

 Naturally it takes longer to penetrate the calyx, but after this is once 

 pierced through the woik goes on more rapidly. 



The method of cutting into the stem below the bud was not observed. 



The Larva. — The larva of the Strawberry Weevil is of the usual Cur- 

 culionid form, and, like so many others of this large family, offers no 

 salient characters for specitic description. In general appearance it 

 resembles the familiar grubs or " worms " found in plums and cherries 

 and in nuts and acorns — the larvie of the Plum Curculio, and the Nut- 

 weevils (Balaninus) respectively. The body is arched or curved, cylin- 

 drical, and strongly rugose or wrinkled and very sparsely covered with 

 hairs. Like other Curculionids it is destitute of legs, their place being- 

 supplied by well-detined fleshy tubercles or pads as shown in the figure 

 (Fig. 14 il). It is somewhat more slender than the larva of Curculion- 

 idiie generally, and slightly more slender than the example figured. The 

 drawing was made from a larva which pupated the following day, and 

 is consequently more robust than those a few days younger. The color 

 of individuals, as has already been stated, varies from nearly white in 

 those infesting the Blackberry to a decided yellow in specimens taken 

 from Strawberry. The head is darker, brownish, and the mouth-i)arts 

 are deeper brown, the color deepening at the dorsal anterior angles of 

 the mandibles. 



The average length of the full-grown larva in its natural curved posi- 

 tion is 2'""'; greatest dorsal length about 3'"'". 



Although no characters are discernible that might be construed as 

 specific, some superficial characteristics might be mentioned. A notice- 

 able peculiarity of the larva is its almost perfect helplessness when 

 separated from its natural environment. Passing as it does its entire 

 existence from e^gg to pupa in the bud, it has no need for organs of loco- 

 motion, and has evidently no means whatev^er of progression when 

 placed on a flat surface. The mature larv^a remains almost constantly 

 in a curved position, the dorsal line of the body describing about two- 

 thirds of il nearly perfect circle. 



The larvte feed at first on pollen and the more tender parts of the 

 unopened flower, the stamens and pistils, but when these are consumed 

 the harder receptacle is attacked. In large buds only a small portion 

 of the contents is consumed, the larva remaining on the side where 

 hatched and gradually eating out a small hole around it, but in small 

 buds it consumed the entire contents, leaving only the two outer en- 

 velopes. Numbers of such small buds were opened in which thelarv'te 

 were found full-grown and almost completely filling the interior with 



