448 FAMILY CURCULIONIDAE 



The larvae feed inside, reducing the kernel to a powdery mass, no external 

 opening being visible in the outer skin of the fruit. Mr. Coventry thus 

 describes the pupation : " On removing this shell or skin the pupae are seen 

 lying each in a separate compartment of its own. The kernel of the acorn, 

 though reduced to a fine powdery condition, is still firm and fills the shell, 

 so that when this latter is removed the inside appears solid, with the pupae 

 lying in little compartments on its surface (see fig. c). With slight pressure, 

 however, it falls to pieces, and it is seen that each compartment is really a 

 small cradle-like cocoon covered above by the shell of the acorn." When 

 ready to emerge a hole is bored through the shell to the outside presum- 

 ably by the first beetle to mature, since all the others issue by the same 

 orifice. The acorns fall to the ground during the attack about the time 

 the larvae become full-fed. The beetle is said to be very lively, but feigns 

 death when disturbed. 



Mr. Coventry took this weevil in ban-oak acorns at Mussoorie, in the 

 North-West Himalaya, in June 1902. 



Relat Forest **" This beetle is a most serious P est to the acorns of 



the ban oak (Quercus incana), in which it lays its eggs, 



the larvae burrowing and feeding in and destroying the fruits. Mr. Coventry 

 states that the insect is largely responsible for the absence of natural 

 regeneration of this tree in the Mussoorie Hills. He wrote as follows 

 on this subject: " On n June 1902 I collected a large number of 

 acorns of Q. incana at Mussoorie with the object of ascertaining what 

 proportion of them was sound, as I could not account for the general 

 absence of natural regeneration from seed of this species. The result of 

 the investigation showed that about 80 per cent, were unsound. Some of 

 the acorns were collected from trees, and others from the ground where 

 they had quite recently fallen. The unsoundness of the acorns was found 

 to be due to the attack of a weevil beetle." 



The best protective measure to take for pests of this nature is to collect 



and burn, when at all feasible, the whole seed crop 



Protection and , , , . Tr ... , . . f r 



Remedies. during a bad attack. If this were done in patches of 



forest only it would have the effect of greatly diminish- 

 ing the numbers of the weevils on those areas, and the next crop of 

 acorns would thus be attacked by a very much smaller number of beetles. 

 Children could be put on at small cost to do the collection work over 

 certain areas, and this work should be begun as soon as the acorns com- 

 mence to drop. 



It is a point of considerable importance to ascertain whether the weevil 

 also infests the acorns of the moru and kharshu oaks growing in this region 

 of the Himalaya. Also what predacecus and parasitic foes attack it. 



