INSECTS AFFECTINC PARK AM) WOODLAND TREES 58? 



Jersey, Pennsylvania. District of Columbia, V' irt^inia. West Virginia, Ohio, 

 Southern States and Arizona. Besides the above, chestnut weevils have 

 been reported from Delaware, Maryland, Georgia, Michigan, and Missouri, 

 but without ha\ing been referred to either species. Possibly each of the 

 species may have a distribution over the United States coextensive with 

 its chosen food. 



The smaller chestnut weevil, B a 1 a n i n u s rectus Say ranges from 

 about ',6 to '3 inch in length, the general color of the scales or hair'is light 

 brown above, pale yellow below, and on the thorax there is a dark brown 

 discal strii)e, which is limited at the sides, and divided longitudinally by a 

 pale yellow line. The wing covers are variously marked with the same 

 color. The beak of the female is very long, being equal to or even longer 

 in proportion than in the larger species. The long beak and the long 

 conical thorax is said to distinguish B. rectus from the other members of 

 the genus. The male is not so readily recognized. " It has a shorter 

 thorax, but it is still narrowed anteriorl)' ; this, with small femoral tooth 

 oval elytra rapidly narrowed from base, and a )ellowish or brownish spot of 

 condensed scales on each side of the central line of the metasterum 

 (occasionally obsolete), will, with practice, (.listinguisli it." Haniilton 



Life history. The life history of these two species agrees very closely 

 so far as known. The weevils appear about the time the chestnuts bloom 

 and oviposit in the young burrs. The long snout of the female is well 

 adapted for piercing the kernel, and one or more eggs are then deposited 

 therein. The slight injury to the husk and nut soon heals, and there is no 

 exterior indication of the insect's presence. The holes observed in wormy 

 chestnuts are made by the larvae when forsaking the nut. The females are 

 said to live but a short time, a week or two at the most. All the larvae of 

 this species enter the ground in the autumn, none winter in the nut. though 

 this has been thought probable by some writers. Dr Hamilton states that 

 the appearance of the smaller chestnut weevil in breeding cages was much 

 more irregular than that of the larger, varying from June 28 to Oct. i. On 

 this latter date he foiuid in the cage pupae in \arious stages, and many 



