156 



mentioned in this bulletin, with the exception of the hazelnut 

 weevil, and have never seen any of the insects use the snout in 

 placing the egg. All the species are provided with long, jointed 

 ovipositors which can be inserted to the full length of any punc- 

 ture which the snout may make and these ovipositors are used 

 for placing the eggs in the exact spot where they are to remain 

 during incubation. When not in use the ovipositor is telescoped 

 together and withdrawn into the body. It is visible to the obser- 

 ver of the live weevils only for a moment preceeding its insertion 

 into the egg-chamber and then quite frequently only the tip is 

 shown. 



The different species have their favorite kinds of nuts to 

 which they adhere with considerable regularity. For example, 

 the two species that feed on chestnuts and chinquapins do not 

 appear to attack any other nuts in the east, although Hamilton 

 records an instance of the chestnut weevil being bred from 

 acorns in Arizona. (Canadian Entomologist, Vol. 22, No. 1.) 

 The hickorynut and hazelnut weevils each infest only its one 

 favorite class of nuts and among those that confine their attacks 

 to acorns there are some species that show a decided preference 

 for certain varieties of acorns. Several species prefer the bien- 

 nial acorns and are rarely found on the annuals while just the 

 reverse is true of other species. This peculiarity of taste among 

 the acorn weevils is most noticable in a locality where all the spe- 

 cies of oaks are bearing at one time. Such a condition permits 

 the beetles to exercise their special preferences to the fullest 

 extent and each species will be found in greatest abundance on 

 the one or more kinds of oak that it likes best. In years when 

 a part of the varieties of oak fail to bear the beetles are less par- 

 ticular and all the different acorn-attacking species have a ten- 

 dency to collect on the bearing trees,their prejudices of taste 

 being overcome apparently by their desire to feed and oviposit. 



In ovipositing the beetles exhibit characteristic differences 

 of procedure which are interesting. Some species deposit their 

 eggs in half -grown nuts while others wait until the nuts are 

 nearly or quite mature. The different species select different 



