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holes, and in a severe attack quite stripped. Though some- 

 times known as the Raspberry Weevil, the insect does not 

 confine its attention to raspberries : it is also very harmful to 

 young grafted stock and to young trees in orchards. In the 

 former case it eats the graft or the bark at the junction of 

 scion with stock, and in the latter case the leaves and shoots, 

 and it may even bite the bark from off the main stem and 

 larger branches. In addition to fruit the weevils attack hops 

 and sometimes such annual crops as peas and beans. Wood- 

 land is usually overrun with these insects, and may easily serve 

 as a centre of infestation for neighbouring fruit plantations. 

 The larvae or grubs feed at the roots of many plants, but 

 owing to their resemblance to those of other similar kinds of 

 weevil, it is not possible to say precisely how much damage 

 they do. 



(2) THE BLACK WEEVIL (Otiorrhynchus sulcatus, Fab.). 



The Black (or Vine) Weevil is a beetle which is more 

 troublesome under glass than in the open. It is about one- 

 third of an inch long, in colour black, minutely speckled with 

 yellow, and the elytra (wing cases) are rough with raised lines 

 like a file or rasp. 



The adult weevils appear under glass in spring (early or 

 late according to the temperature of the house), and may be 

 found more or less throughout the summer, but it is not known 

 whether there is more than one generation in the year. In 

 the beetle stage they are chiefly injurious to vineshoots and to 

 the shoots and foliage of fruit trees or shrubs grown under 

 glass, but they have also been recorded as attacking rasp- 

 berries in the open in much the same way as the Clay -Coloured 

 Weevil. 



The larva, which is a white, legless grub with a brown head, 

 is very injurious to plants in pots notably to ferns, primulas 

 and cyclamens. They feed on the roots and cause the plants 

 to have an unthrifty look ferns usually show a bad colour 

 and fail to make proper growth, while primulas and cyclamens 

 may be completely killed. If such plants are examined the 

 grubs will usually be found lying half curled up (like the letter 

 C) near the crown of the plant, eating the thicker or more 

 fleshy parts. It is not uncommon to find 6-8 grubs in one 

 pot. Out of doors the grubs are also injurious to many garden 

 plants and also to strawberries. 



(3) THE RED-LEGGED OR PLUM WEEVIL (Oiiorrliynchus 



tenebricosus , Herbst.) 



This black, shining weevil, half an inch long with dull 

 reddish legs, is very injurious to plum trees in years when it 

 appears in large numbers. Peaches, nectarines and apricots 

 are also attacked, and it has been known to damage raspberries 

 severely, chewing the young shoot and destroying tender 



