INSECTS INJURIOUS TO CLOVER 



207 



tion 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 leaves, in which they 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 

 and somewhat curved as shown in Fig. 149c. They attack the 

 young leaves and crown so that a badly infested field will not get 

 over six inches high; too short to mow. The larva? are most 



FIG. 149. The alfalfa-weevil (Phytonomus murinus): a, eggs; b, cocoon; 

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

 Dept, Agr.) 



abundant in May and decrease through June. When full grown 

 the larva? crawl or drop to the ground and spin their cocoons 

 in the dead leaves or rubbish. The cocoon is globular and 

 composed of a network of rather coarse white threads, Fig. 1496. 

 In it the larva transforms to a pupa, which stage lasts from 

 one to two weeks, when the adult beetle emerges. 



From early to midsummer the beetles become more and more 

 abundant, and not only feed on the fresh growth, but attack the 

 bark of the stems so that where excessively abundant they totally 

 destroy the second crop. 



" The entire life of the insect, from the deposition of the egg to 

 the emergence of the adult, may be anywhere from forty to seventy 



