84 
and in this country the insect, tho often abundant, seldom accomphshes 
the injury anticipated because the larvae are usually killed in spring by 
a fungous disease. When this species cooperates with the root-borer, 
in a time of drought, injury of the worst kind may ensue. 
The larvae eat the leaves, and the beetles eat the leaves and stems 
also, as described later. 
Description. — The egg is easily visible as a yellow object (chrome- 
yellow at first), elongate oval, 1.1 mm. long and 0.6 mm. broad. It 
darkens in from two to six days after being laid, and the surface is 
then rough, and sculptured with hexagonal depressions. 
In the clover field the larvse of this species (Fig. 13) can not easily 
be mistaken for anything else. They are green usually, and lie on the 
ground curled head to tail. Close examination shows that they are 
footless and have a brown head, while along 
the middle of the back is a white or pale 
yellow stripe edged with rose-red or black- 
1 
Fig. 14. — Clover leaf-weevil, Phytono- 
mus punctatus, cocoon. Greatly en- 
larged. 
ish red. The youngest larvae, to be sure, 
Fig. 13.— Clover leaf-weevil, differ from this description, for when only 
C^'GreSeSer '"" ^'^ mm- ©r 2 mm. long, they are white or 
pale yellow, with a jet-black head and only 
a suggestion of the characteristic median dorsal .stripe; they are curled 
up on the ground and sluggish, however, just like the older larvae. 
Riley (1882, p. 178) gave a detailed description of the larva in its 
four stages. The body tapers gradually toward each end. The color, 
white at hatching, becomes green as soon as a meal has been taken. 
Some larvae, however, are distinctly yellow- instead of green, and a 
few are bluish green. The head, black in the first stage, becomes 
afterward brown or yellowish brown. The second stage (after the 
first moult) is marked by the appearance of the broad white dorsal 
line, bordered on each side by a blackish streak, and the length of the 
larva is 4 mm. After the second moult this line is more conspicuous 
and the length of the larva is 5 to 7 mm. With the third and final 
moult, the larvae become decidedly green, tho the posterior part of the 
