WEEVILS & ELM BARK BEETLES 



{Balaninus nuciim). The former kills the flower buds of 

 apples and pears, the result of an egg deposited in each 

 bud, and the consequent ravages of the larva, but there 

 are others which produce excrescences upon turnips, 

 or disembowel oak leaves, and a whole plantation of 

 Austrian pines has been destroyed by Pissodes notatus. 

 Others resort to beans, peas, plums, raspberries, and 

 vines. The Apple Blossom Weevil has a snout, or 

 rostrum, about half as long as its body. It is blackish, 

 with a greyish down, and is of nocturnal habits. The 

 larva feeds on the vital organs of the flower — the stamens 

 and pistil — and the adult eats the leaves. The egg 

 hatches in a few days after being laid, the larva appearing 

 as a white maggot. It only feeds for a week or two, 

 and then pupates. But the harm is already done by 

 then. Fruit trees should be sprayed in February with 

 Winter spray fluid, or caustic alkali, or with arsenate of 

 lead just before the buds open. 



The circular holes so often seen in hazel-nuts are 

 caused by the larva of the Nut Weevil which feeds upon 

 the tasty interior. The little round hole gives away the 

 secret where the creature made good its escape after 

 having had its fill by eating away its " home." We 

 have still to consider another destructive family of 

 beetles in the Scolytidce, among which may be men- 

 tioned the Elm Bark Beetle {Scolytus destructor, Fig. 20). 

 Although these are only small insects, they do a great 

 deal of damage, as the larvae feed on the layer of wood 

 just underneath the bark. If a dead piece of bark is 



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