196 INSECT PESTS OF FARM, GARDEN AND ORCHARD 



females often push their eggs down between the leaves, but the 

 usual method is to insert them in punctures made in the stem. 



This puncturing of the 

 young stems often re- 

 sults in considerable 

 damage in early spring. 

 A single alfalfa plant 

 which had escaped from 

 cultivation was found 

 to contain 127 of these 

 punctures, and as each 

 puncture contains ten 

 or fifteen eggs, this plant 

 probably bore some 

 1200 eggs, although it 

 was exceptional. 



The eggs hatch in 

 about ten days and 

 the small white larvae 



make their way to the 



FIG. 164. The alfalfa weevil, adults, clustering i p{ , vp <, j n w V,i r b 



leaves " Wicn 



. . , , 



on and attacking sprig of alfalfa-natural size . 

 (After Webster, U. S. Dept. Agr.) 



eat small holes. They 

 soon turn a decidedly green color, and when full grown are about 

 one-half inch long with a white stripe down the middle of the back 



FIG. 165. The alfalfa weevil (Phytonomus posticus) : a, ^ 

 c, larva; d, pupa; e, adult all much enlarged. (After 

 Dept. Agr.) 



6, cocoon; 

 ebster, U. S. 



