AN ATTACK HY THE WKF.VII, STROPHOSOMUS CORYI.I. 185 



26. An Attack by the Weevil Strophosomus CorylL 



By John Macrae, Forester, Ilighfield, MuirofOrd. 



In the month of July 1909, while inspecting a mixed planta- 

 tion of Scots fir, Douglas fir (Oregon variety), and Japanese 

 larch, I found the foliage of Scots fir damaged by a weevil. 

 Specimens of the weevil were sent for identification to Dr 

 MacDougall, and he has informed me that its name is 

 Strophosomus Coryli. The plantation in which I found the 

 damaged Scots fir is about i acre in extent ; it was formerly 

 part of an old wood, consisting of beech, oak, larch and Scots 

 fir, of which the greater part was cut some fifteen years ago. 

 But a part of the ground still carries a crop, composed of 

 beech, larch and oak, about ninety years old. 



The attacked plot is well protected from ground game by a 

 wire-netting fence, 36 inches high, of i^ inch mesh, which has 

 6 inches of the netting let into the ground to keep rabbits from 

 burrowing under it. The soil is a sandy loam, the exposure 

 is to the south and west, and the ground is sheltered on the 

 north and east by the old wood. The crop consists of alternate 

 rows of Scots fir, Douglas fir and Japanese larch, the object 

 being to have Douglas fir and Japanese larch as the main 

 crop. The Scots fir was put in alternate rows, so that it might be 

 removed when suppressed by the Douglas and Japanese larch. 



It is worthy of note that while but few of the Douglas fir and 

 Japanese larch have been yet attacked by the weevil, the foliage 

 of the alternate rows of Scots fir is much damaged. 



The method I took to destroy the weevil was to handpick it 

 from the plants, searching well in the covering of grass and 

 leaves at the stem of each plant, and destroying the weevils by 

 crushing them. This is a very tedious method wheji a great 

 number of plants have to be examined, and it must be gone about 

 very carefully, as when the plants are shaken and the weevil 

 discovers that it has been seen, it immediately drops to the 

 ground, and lies quite still as if dead ; it is then not easy to 

 discover among leaves and grass of a brown and grey colour. 



The plants damaged last year are not yet dead, but are in 

 a bad state, being stripped of their foliage. 



On the 3rd of May 19 10, in a plantation \\ miles distant 

 from the above, I found the same weevil on Scots fir, planted 

 in the month of November 1909, on more exposed ground, off 



VOL. XXIII. PART II. N 



