S6 
it is also darker in color than the female, with a narrower pale area on 
each elytron, the two outermost interspaces being dark instead of pale. 
The pygidium (which is not exposed) is, as usual in the family Cur- 
culionidcc, divided by a transverse suture so as to form an additional, 
or anal, segment ; thus the male has eight "dorsal segments" and the 
female seven. 
P. pnnctatns is distinguishable at once from our other species of 
Phytononius by its coloration, large size, and stout beak. As to smaller 
differences, punctatus is characterized by having mandibles that are not 
emarginate at the tip, while the first and second segments of the funicle 
are ecjual ; in the other species of the genus the first segment is stouter 
and often longer than the second, and the beak is longer and more 
slender than in punctatus. In the clover field, this beetle will be recog- 
nized without difficulty. 
Life History. — In central Illinois we have only one annual gener- 
ation of this insect, as seems to be the rule elsewliere. All thru the 
winter small larvae can be found in the clover field under rubbish on 
the ground or between the bases of the clover stems. In early spring 
the few warm days that start the clover on its new growth revive the 
larvse also, and they begin to mar the fresh clover leaves with little 
round holes eaten out of the blades of the leaflets. In the early season 
of 1907 the first new leaves of red clover began to show March 19, and 
were already riddled by these larvae March 23, at which date the larvae 
were common on the ground near the affected plants. In early spring 
the larvre are of many sizes, with an -average of 5 mm. in length, tho 
many are only 2 or 2.5 mm. long, and a few are as long as 7 mm. I 
have rarely found the beetles in early spring, and such as were found 
were either dead or in the last stages of decrepitude, and evidently in- 
capable of doing anything toward the propagation of their kind. 
I have not found more than four larval stages — the number given 
by Riley. The first stage lasts about nine days, in the insectary ; thus 
larvae born November 16 moulted for the first time November 25. 
Some of the larvae, born in late autumn, do not moult until the following 
March or April. For example, one larva was in its first stage April 
1 ; it moulted April 8, April 17, and May 4, and spun May 20. The in- 
tervals between moults are, however, very variable, especially when the 
weather is unsettled, and the growth of the larvae is consequently in- 
termittent. 
The pupal period indoors we have found to be 10 to 20 days, as 
in four instances following: 
(1) Spinning occurred April 22 ; pupation, April 24 ; emergence, May 1 1. 
(2) Spinning occurred April 22 ; pupation, April 24 ; emergence, May 14. 
(3) Spinning occurred April 24; pupation, April 30; emergence, May 20. 
(4) Spinning occurred May 20 ; pupation. May 27 ; emergence, June 6. 
Larvae of various sizes are common in April and May, but nearly 
all attain their growth before June 20. Rarely, beetles of the new gen- 
eration appear as early as May 9; on that date we once found two 
