456 INSECT PESTS OF FARM, GARDEN AND ORCHARD 



late in the summer it may pay to handpick all infested leaves 

 or to crush the larva in the folded leaf. This will tend to lessen 

 the number that live over winter." 



The Strawberry Weevil * 



.If the buds appear to be " stung " so that they wither, and 

 if many of the stems are 3ut so that the buds drop to the ground, 

 the strawberry weevil is the probable cause of the damage. This 

 little weevil is only about one-tenth inch long and so is often 

 unnoticed, and the loss is attributed to other causes. The weevil 

 varies from nearly black to dull red, with 

 a dark spot just back of the centre of 

 each wing-cover. The head is prolonged 

 into a slender curved snout, about half 

 as long as the body. The species is 

 found in most of the States east of the 

 Rockies, but injury has been most severe 

 in the Middle and Northern States. 



Life History. The weevils hibernate 

 over winter and appear in spring a few 

 days before the earliest staminate vari- 

 eties commence to bloom. Others emerge 

 during the next month, but the most 

 injury is done within the next two weeks. 

 The injury is done by the females, which 

 cat small holes through the outer husk 

 or corolla of nearly matured buds, and in 

 these little cavities deposit their eggs. 

 The stem of the bud is then cut so that it 



FIG. 325. The straw- 

 berry weevil (Antho- 

 nomiis signatiis Say) 

 enlarged. (After Riley 

 and Chittenden, U. S. 



Dept. Agr.) 



hangs by a mere thread and soon falls to the ground. By severing 

 the stem the development of the bud is arrested, thus preventing 

 the outer covering from unfolding and holding the eggs and larvrc 

 in the pollen, on which they feed, and by falling to the ground 

 * Anthonomus signatus Say. Family Curculionidce. See F. H. Chittenden, 

 Circular 21, Div. Ent., U. S Dept. Agr.; J. B. Smith, Bulletin 225, N. J. 

 Agr. Exp. Sta. 



