ENTOMOLOGY 79 



well to examine it for the root louse. If the bed be infested, open- 

 ings of ants' nests will usually be found very numerous and large 

 numbers of small brown ants will be seen among the plants. Upon 

 pulling up an infested plant many of the roots will be covered with 

 clusters of the little black plant lice. 



The root lice, or aphids, found on the roots during summer and 

 early fall are very small insects only about one-twentieth of an inch 

 long. They are of a deep bluish-black color, and somewhat pear- 

 shaped, tapering toward the head. There are usually four genera- 

 tions. The pest may be spread in three ways: (1) by the aphids or 

 eggs being introduced upon the plants in setting the beds, (2) by 

 the spread of the winged lice, and (3) by being transported by 

 ants. Undoubtedly the species has been most generally spread by 

 infested plants, either from the nursery or from old beds. 



It is evident that land infested with aphids should not be 

 immediately replanted with berries, for through the care of the ants, 

 a few eggs or viviparous females are very apt to survive either in 

 suits' nests or upon stray plants growing around the border of the 

 field. If it is desired to replant berries after a single year's rotation, 

 the land should be put in several crops which require constant culti- 

 vation. Corn and melons are commonly infested with aphids which 

 are attended by ants, arid these crops should therefore never be fol- 

 lowed by strawberries, where there is any possibility of the root-louse. 



As the aphids and their eggs are readily transported on young 

 plants it is of the utmost importance that the plants be secured from 

 sources known to be free from the pest, or, if any doubt exists on 

 this point, that they be thoroughly disinfected by the dipping of the 

 plants in a tobacco decoction or by fumigation with hydrocyanic 

 acid gas as for San Jose scale. (Bui. 49, Del. Exp. Sta.) 



The Strawberry Weevil. Just before the blossoms of the straw- 

 berry expand they are attacked by an insect which severs them from 

 the stem. This insect is the strawberry weevil, and the severing of 

 the buds is accomplished by the female in the process of oviposition. 

 The weevil first deposits an egg in the bud and then punctures or 

 cuts the stem below it so that in a few days it drops to the ground. 

 Within the severed bud the larva hatched from this egg develops, 

 and transforms to the pupa and afterwards to the beetle. 



The strawberry weevil measures only a tenth of an inch in 

 length, and is provided with a slender, slightly curved snout, about 

 half as long as the body, to which are attached its jointed antenna?. 

 The color varies from nearly black to dull red, and each elytron or 

 wing-cover is ornamented just behind the middle with a dark spot 

 surrounded with whitish pubescence. 



The presence of the weevil in strawberry beds is manifested by 

 the decreased number of blossoms and the severed buds and stem?, 

 the diminutive size of the beetle protecting it from general observa- 

 tion. Nor is the destruction of the buds likely to be noticed until 

 some time after the insect has been at work. Hence it happens that 

 injury, even over wide areas, is often attributed to hail, frost, or to 

 some other cause than the right one. Appearing, as the insect so 



