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the ground under a chestnut tree. This is the only adult of 

 this species that I have taken in the field so early in the season 

 but a little later I have captured several from the blossom catkins 

 of chestnut. This is several weeks in advance of the appearance 

 of the bulk of beetles of this species. 



Another departure from the normal life cycle is the case of 

 a small per cent of larvae which remain for two years in their 

 cells in the earth and then transform to beetles and issue 

 from the ground in company with those that develop from the 

 previous season '& generation of larvae. This provision is eviden- 

 tly an arrangement of nature to carry the species over a year 

 when a total failure of the nut crop may occur. It is plain that 

 if all the insects of a kind matured during any one year and 

 found no nuts in which to lay their eggs the species would perish 

 from the earth because there would be no means of reproduction. 

 Such a fate does occasionally overtake a large per cent of the 

 individuals of one generation but the few larvae that always 

 remain unchanged in the ground over two winters are able to 

 provide successors the following year. In breeding the insects 

 in the laboratory it has been found that occasionally an indivi- 

 dual will remain as a larva until the third summer after it quits 

 the nut. This insures the perpetuation of the species even 

 though all the nut trees should fail for a year or two to bear 

 and furnish food for the insects. 



EARLY STAGES OF THE WEEVILS. 



The eggs, larvae and pupae of the different species bear a 

 close resemblance to one another. The eggs are small, elongate, 

 translucent white, with a polished surface and fragile shell. 

 There are slight variations in the size and shape of the eggs of 

 the different species but in most cases the distinctions are hardly 

 preceptible. A considerable variation in the shape of the 

 eggs produced by one individual is quite apt to occur. 



The larvae differ somewhat in size and in the tints of color 

 but they are all robust, white, creamy-white, or yellowish-white 



