CUR 



[ 299 ] 



CUR 



C, recurna'tu (rolled-back-tefl vect), 1. Yellow. 



Bengal. 1805. 

 Sumatra'na (Sumatran). 3. Yellow. July. 



Sumatra. 1818. 



CUECULIO. This destructive genus 

 of Beetles are popularly known as 

 Weevils. The following are some of 

 the chief species : 



C. alliarice. Stem-boring Weevil. 

 Steel-green colour. Bores the shoots 

 and grafts of young fruit-trees. Ap- 

 pears in June and July. 



C. bacchus. Purple or Apple Weevil. 

 Pierces the fruit of the apple, deposit- 

 ing within it its eggs. June and July. 



C. letuleti. Vine Weevil. Colour, 

 steel-blue. Attacks the leaf, rolling it 

 up as a nest for its eggs. The pear is 

 liable to its attacks also. Appears in 

 June arid July. 



C. cupreus. Copper-coloured Weevil. 

 Attacks the leaves and young shoots of 

 the plum and apricot, as well as their 

 fruit. June and July. 



C. lineatus. Striped Pea Weevil. 

 Every gardener must have observed 

 the edges of the young leaves of his 

 peas, and sometimes of his beans, eaten 



away in scollops, or semicircular pieces. 

 This is often done by the Sltona tibialis, 

 but still more frequently by another of 

 the short-snouted beetles, Cim-nlto 

 lineatus. In Scotland it is commonly 

 called "the Cuddy," or Donkey, from 

 its grey colour. In our drawing it is 

 magnified, but the line by its side 

 shows the natural length. The whole 

 body is grey, and marked with black 

 lines ; the antennte reddish ; the eyes 

 black. They survive the winter shel- 

 tered beneath moss, &c., and in bad 

 weather at all seasons retire under 

 stones, only to reappear with the sun- 

 shine. 



C. mamlarius. Spotted Weevil. Grey 

 colour. April. Also destroys the pea. 

 Soot or lime sprinkled over peas early 

 in the morning before the dew is off 

 from them, and so thickly as to cover 

 the soil about them, would probably 

 save them. To mitigate the attack of 

 the weevils upon trees, the only mode 

 is to spread a sheet beneath them, to 

 shake each branch, and to destroy 

 those beetles which fall. They usually 

 feed at night. 



C. nucum. Nut Weevil, of which the 

 maggot is so frequent in our filberts. 

 Mr. Curtis thus describes it : " The 

 insect is brown, with darker bands ; is 

 about a quarter of an inch long, and 

 has a long horny beak, about the mid- 

 dle of which are placed antenna?. When 

 the nut is in a young state the female 

 weevil deposits a single egg. The 

 maggot is hatched in about a fortnight, 

 and continues feeding in the interior of 

 the nut till it is full grown, when the 

 nut falls. The maggot has no legs, nor, 

 indeed, has it any use for them, being 

 hatched in the midst of its food ; and 

 when the nut remains on the tree, it 

 forces itself out of the hole it eats in 

 the nut, and falls almost immediately 

 to the ground. The only remedy we 

 are aware of is, in the course of the 

 summer to frequently shake the trees, 

 which will cause all the eaten nuts to 

 fall to the ground, when they must be 

 collected and burned." 



C. oblonym. Oblong Weevil. Red- 

 dish-brown colour. Feeds on the young 

 leaves of the peach, apricot, plum, pear, 

 and apple. Appears in May. 



C. picipes is a dull black, and is very 

 injurious in the vinery. 



C. pomorum. Apple Weevil. Colour, 

 dark brown. Attacks the blossom of 

 the apple, and often destroys the whole 

 crop. More rarely it attacks the pear 

 blossom. Appears in March and April. 



C. pyri. Pear Weevil. Dark brown, 

 very like the apple weevil. April. 



C.snlcatus. During the winter months, 

 succulent plants, such as Sedums, &c., 

 become sickly, and die apparently with- 

 out a cause. They are thus destroyed 

 by a small, footless grub feeding upon 

 them just below the surface of the 

 earth. This grab is about half an inch 



