24 



THE CHESTNUT WEEVILS, WITH NOTES ON OTHER N(JT-FEEDING 



SPECIES. 



By F. II. Chittenden. 

 INTRODUCTORY. 



The pul)lic is quite familiar, and clisagTeeably so, with "wormy" 

 chestnuts. Tlie grower who depends on the cultivation of chestnuts 

 for a livelihood, or a portion thereof, knows " how the worm g-ets in 

 the nut," and if he be a good observer he knows that it develops from a 

 minute egg deposited by a long-legged, yellow or ochre-colored weevil, 

 with a line, slender snout longer than the bod}^ From eggs so or 

 deposited hatch the disgusting "worms." Thus much is known to the 

 chestnut grower; also to many it is known that there are at least two 

 species of the weevil. It was not until the year 1S9() that any exten- 

 sive work was imdertaken to determine the life habits of the various 

 species which are concerned in injur}' to chestnuts, hazelnuts, hickory 



nuts, and acorns. In that 

 year Dr. John Hamilton^' 

 published an excellent 

 eight-page account of 

 the habits of our l)est- 

 known species, eight in 

 number.'' 



The economic side of 



Fio. 5. -Chestnuts showing exit holes of chestnut weevil larv.c, , , nuestion has received 

 enlarged one-fourth (original) . ^"^ qUCbUOn Uds 1 CCeiVeQ 



considerable notice in 

 articles by Messrs. Gerald McCarthy,'' J. B. Smith,'' and J. A. Lintner." 

 The article b}- the first-mentioned author is of considerable value, as 

 it contains extracts from experienced growers of chestnuts, fifteen 

 persons in all; and that of the last writer is especially useful because 

 of the full bibliography presented. 



For many years, and particularly within the past three, numerous 

 complaints have been inade of damage by these pests, and frecjuent 

 appeals for ])etter means of controlling them are made. 



The larvie, grubs, or ^' worms" as they are more commonly called, 

 develop with the nuts so that those which first attain maturity are 

 read}^ to leave the nuts nearl}^ as soon as gathered. Others remain 



"Balaninus: Its Food Habits, Can. Entom. (Vol. XXII, pp. 1-8). 



^ Nine or ten other species have been described, but we know Httle of their habits, 

 and they therefore need not be considered in the present article. (See Capt. T. L. 

 Casey, Annals New York Acad. Sciences, Vol. IX, 1897, pp. 655-664.) 



cBul. 105, N. C. Agr. Expt. Sta., 1894, pp. 267-272. 



'^Rept. N. J. Agr. Expt. Sta., 1895 (1894), pp. 481-485. 



f Twelfth Rept. N. Y. St. Ent. 1896 (1897), pp. 267-272. It should be mentioned, 

 that certain notes by the writer (Ent. Amer., Vol. VI, p. 172) were not included. 



