106 Insect Pests. 



the various buds, and at last, settling upon one in particular, she 

 commences to bore a hole into it by means of her long proboscis. 

 When she has reached the centre of the bud, a cavity is formed 

 by means of her spatulate rostrum. Then reversing her position, 

 she lays an egg in the hole, and again turns round and pushes it 

 far into the cavity with her snout. The aperture thus formed is very 

 minute, and cannot easily be seen with a lens. The hole is afterwards 

 closed up by the female with saliva, a similar habit to that which 

 we see in the Corn Weevil (Calandra grana-ria). In from five to 

 seven days these ova hatch into small, white, footless maggots, 

 which at once commence to feed upon the stamens and other 

 internal parts of the blossom, and later on even upon the receptacle. 

 They rarely touch the ovary. The blossom commences to expand, 

 but the petals seldom completely open. The growth suddenly 

 ceases, the petals which form a kind of brown cap over the 

 receptacle, shrivel up and die, presenting a scorched appearance. 

 On this account the disease is spoken of as " capped blossom." On 

 opening one of these diseased-looking blossoms there will be found 

 a small, white, maggot lying in the centre. At first this foot- 

 less maggot is a pure white grub with a dark brown head. As 

 in all the weevils, the larva lies in a curved position ; by degrees 

 it assumes a creamy colour, and the skin becomes more and more 

 wrinkled. The spiracles are dark brown, and there are a number 

 of scattered hairs over the body ; on the ventral' surface are some 

 pointed tubercles, by means of which the larva can move in the 

 cavity of the blossom. When full-grown the larva is -f^ inch in 

 length, having reached maturity in from ten days to two weeks. 

 The period of larval life is, however, very variable, some may reach 

 the full-fed state in about eight days, others taking three weeks, 

 this variation depending entirely upon the weather. On the larva 

 reaching maturity it casts its skin and assumes the pupal state, 

 still inside the blossom, which is now practically dead. The pupa 

 is pale yellowish-brown, and with the various parts of the imago 

 marked out upon it, the long proboscis being particularly noticeable, 

 folded under the head and lying between the leg cases. The pupa, 

 which is slightly smaller than the larva, hatches in from seven to 

 ten days. The eyes, which are clearly seen, are black in colour, 

 contrasting strongly with the rest of the body. 



Soon after the adult beetle has come forth from the pupa case 

 it commences to eat its way out of the dead, brown blossom, leaving 

 behind a round hole, from which it has made its exit. The weevil 

 rests for a short time, some five or six hours, and then it commences 



