WEEVILS. 



219 



When injurious it may be collected by shaking, and the 

 rolls may be picked off. 



Attelabus curculionoides, L., a very similar insect with almost 

 smooth elytra, is locally common on oak and sweet-chestnut, 

 chiefly on undergrowth. 



2. Rhynchites betulae, L. 

 a. Description. 



This beetle is 4 to 5 mm. long, black and slightly hairy ; 

 rostrum hardly longer than the head ; elytra 

 broad with deep coarsely punctured striae; 

 posterior femora strongly dilated in the $ . 



b. Life-history, etc. 



The ? in May cuts the leaves of birch 

 and other trees on both sides down to the 

 mid-rib in a curved line, beginning near the 

 base of the leaf ; she lays an egg on the edge 

 of the leaf in a little pocket made in the leaf 

 by removal of a bit of its epidermis, and then 

 rolls up the two sides over one another, so 

 that the gg lies in the middle of the roll, 

 which is open at both ends. 



The larva feeds on the roll, and in the 

 autumn falls to the ground with it, and pupates in the soil. 



The beetle prefers the birch, on which species thousands of 

 these rolls may be found ; but it also attacks beech, poplars, 

 alder, hazel, etc. It is common, and widely distributed in 

 Britain. 



Fig. 84. Birch- 

 leaf, rolled up by 

 R. betulae, L. 

 (Natural size.) 



c. Protective Rules. 



The rolls may be collected and destroyed. 



E. betuleti is very destructive to vines, and also attacks 

 many broadleaved trees, as birch and hazel; and R. populi, 

 L., attacks poplars and aspens. Both are local in Great 

 Britain. 



