29 



The larva is subterranean in habit, but the mature larva and the pupa 

 are unknown, as is also the larval food plant. A female beetle kept by 

 the writer from May till July deposited eggs almost daily, 540 in num- 

 ber, and it was not known how many eggs had been laid prior to that 

 time. The beetle possesses the habit so common to snout-beetles of 

 "playing 'possum" or feigning death when disturbed, dropping off its 

 food plant on the slightest disturbance and remaining for some time 

 before resuming activit}-. ^'■ 



A beetle parasitized b}^ a fungus {Sj^oi'otricliuin glohuliferum f) is 

 illustrated in figure 24. 



The imbricated snout-beetle is one of many species of insects which 

 are sporadic as regards injurious attack and 

 troublesome onh' in seasons following a year 

 which has been favorable to the increase of 

 individuals. The beetles are not restricted 

 to wild plants even in years of scarcity, but 

 are found over the area which they inhabit 

 on cultivated or other useful plants ever}^ 

 year. Fortunatel}' the beetle is not only 

 irregular as to destructive occurrences, but is 

 omnivorous as well, subsisting on one plant 

 quite as well as another, thus distributing 

 attack. 



JRemedies. — This species will yield to the 

 same remedies in use against the Colorado 

 potato beetle. On plants resistant to arsen- 

 icals, such as potato, Paris green applied as 

 a spray at the rate of a pound to K »0 gallons 

 of water is effective, while on less resistant 

 plants, such as peach and bean, a weaker 



spray — about 1 pound to 150 gallons of water — or one' in which 

 arsenate of lead is the poison, is necessary to avoid scalding the 

 foliage. Arsenicals can also be used dry, mixed with about 10 parts 

 of cheap flour or lime, and applied to the infested plants by means 

 of a hand bellows. 



The beetles may be readily dislodged from affected plants by jarring 

 them with a pole or stick upon ''curculio catchers" of strong cloth 

 stretched on frames and mounted on wheels or runners. If the cloth 

 is saturated with kerosene, it will kill them; or, as they make little or 

 no effert to escape, they may be easily taken from the "catchers" and 

 killed by burning or by pouring scalding water over them. 



Eventually this snout-beetle will probably become rare owing to its 

 being wingless, when it may be replaced by other species having well 

 developed wings. 



Fig. 24. — Epicxrus imbricatus: bee- 

 tle attacked by fungus — three 

 times natural size (author's illus- 

 tration, Division of Eutomol- 



ogy)- 



« A more detailed account is given in Bui. 19, n. s., Div. Ent., pp. 62-67. 



