130 THE CLOVER CROP. 



of the flowers, and eating the seed from the outside of 

 the calyx, through a hole which they had first made. 

 They change to pupae in the same situation, and when 



1. Section of flower-head of Trifolium pratense injured by weevil. 2. Grub or larva of do. 

 3. Clover weevil, A^Aon apmcans. 



the beetles hatch, the females proceed, after impregna- 

 tion, to a fresh head of flowers, to deposit their eggs. 

 Curtis 1 gives some reports of the injury these small 

 insects are capable of inflicting on the clover crop: 

 " I have a field of clover," says one of his correspondents, 

 " which has been twice mown, and there is now a fine 

 aftermath. The part of the field near the stack has been 

 lately attacked by a small black weevil, which advances 

 in a semicircle, totally destroying every leaf, leaving 

 only the fibre. I should think there are on many of the 

 leaves as many as 100 to 150. Since last night they 

 have eaten nearly as much as would have kept a sheep, 

 they destroy every leaf in their progress." In the Trans- 

 actions of the Linnean Society, 2 a statement is given of 

 the losses inflicted on a crop of clover seed by this weevil. 

 The produce of a small field of 44 acres gave a return in 

 seed of 41, 17s. $d. in one instance, while the same 

 acreage of crop infested by weevils produced only a money 

 return of 18, 15s., showing a deficienc}^ or rather 

 difference, between the two crops of 23, 2s. 6d. The 

 insects are of extremely rapid growth, and multiply very 



1 Farm Insects, p. 477. 2 Trans, of Lin. Soc., vol. vi. p. 142. 



