153 



disappeared from nut trees, practically all the individuals of 

 one species leaving the ground at near the same time. Egg-lay- 

 ing continues from the time the meat in the nut begins to form 

 until the nut is full grown. Eggs hatch in from one to two 

 weeks. Larvae feed on kernel of nuts, some species reaching 

 full growth before or near the time the nuts drop and others 

 maturing much later. Full-grown larvae leave the nuts through 

 large, circular holes which they eat in the shell. The larva, 

 after leaving a nut, does not enter other nuts but penetrates the 

 soil for an inch or more where it fashions a small cell, by twist- 

 ing the body about, in which it passes the winter unchanged. 

 In June, July and August the larvae change to pupae in which 

 stage they remain for two weeks, more or less, and then trans- 

 form to adults. They remain in their cells as adults for several 

 days, or, often, until a warm rain softens the earth, and then 

 emerge and go .to the trees. 



EXCEPTIONS AND VARIATIONS. 



There are some very decided exceptions to the rule of the 

 life cycle as given above. Occasionally individuals of at least 

 two species- will change from larvae to adults, either late in the 

 fall or early in the spring, and issue from the ground in May. 

 I liave spent much time in searching in the ground under chest- 

 nut, oak and hickory trees in April and May for these early 

 maturing beetles but so far have found examples of only the 

 chestnut weevil and the confused acorn weevil. This act of 

 early transformation seems to occur most frequently with the 

 latter species as I have found, in all, about a dozen specimens 

 in the earth under chestnut oak trees in May. I have also col- 

 lected the beetles frequently during the same month in jaring 

 plum trees to catch the plum curculio. Their occurrence on the 

 plum trees has probably been accidental as the particular trees 

 from which they have always been collected are growing near 

 an oak woods where the beetles breed in great abundanc?. 



On May 22nd, 1906, I found one female chestnut weevil in 



