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shorter period than any that we have as yet found. He notes eggs as 
being laid as soon as August 7, and copulation as occurring in the field 
as late as November 12. 
Habits. — One or two beetles manage to live over winter, and even 
to eat a little in early spring. Probably they issued late in the pre- 
vious season and had enough vitality to carry them over to the next 
season. I do not believe that such beetles lay any eggs in spring, how- 
ever, in this locality. 
When the larvae emerge from the egg in autumn they feed on 
tender green tissue down where the stems join, avoiding the light and 
biting out little crevices, in which they lie. As it gets colder, they 
go down deeper and reach the roots. The larger larvae and the pupae 
are found on the roots, and part of the eggs are laid there, some of 
the female beetles, after copulation, biu'rowing down along the roots. 
Other females, in the breeding-cage, drop their eggs promiscuously. 
The beetles, like the larvae, avoid bright. sunlight. Most of them 
feed by night. Some feed, to be sure, in the daytime when the sky is 
overcast, or even in bright daylight on a shaded portion of a plant. 
To find many of the beetles during the day, however, one must scrape 
away the rubbish on the ground near clover plants that show the 
characteristic work of the insect. The beetles when exposed to the 
light are quick to recover their wits, and to hurry ofif to another shel- 
tered situation. 
The beetle when engaged in feeding stands astride upon the edge 
of a leaflet and stays in the same spot, swinging its head and thorax 
up and down as it eats, and biting out a rounded gap always of about 
the same form and size. The beetles are alert when feeding, and drop 
to the ground without hesitation when approached incautiously. In- 
doors they will feed in the daytime if the light is not too strong. 
Control. — No enemies of this species have been found up to the 
present. Should it become destructive it would be hard to deal with. 
The cutting of the hay crop has little or no effect upon the larvae or 
the beetles ; the former continue to feed on the roots, and the latter 
feed temporarily on the green stubble and attack the new leaves as 
soon as they appear. In a field of red clover cut July 1, I found the 
beetles and larvae common July 15; on clover cut July 23 the new 
leaves showed considerable injury July 30. 
Fortunately it is not necessary as yet to prescribe remedies for 
the attacks of this weevil. 
Other Species of Sitones. — In Europe several species of Sitones 
are injurious to clovers and allied plants. In America we have at least 
four of the European species, namely, ffavescens, tibialis, liispidulus, 
and Jineellus. Tibialis is of no economic importance here. Hispidu- 
liis, according to Schwarz, is a recent importation. It was first no- 
ticed in 1876 in New Jersey, and subsequently in New York, Mary- 
land, and Pennsylvania. The species is injurious in the old country 
and may become a pest here. Schwarz found it to be abundant in 
1889 in Washington, D. C. feeding on red clover. 
