165 



regularly-shaped and lop-sided specimens are frequently found. 

 The time required for the egg to hatch was not ascertained. 



I have not found more than three eggs in one nut though 

 that number has been observed several times. Four or five larvae 

 are frequently found in one nut and eight are recorded by Ham- 

 ilton. It is likely that in some cases more than three eggs are 

 deposited in a puncture but where as many as seven or eight 

 larvae occur they probably represent more than one set of eggs. 



The larvae begin to gnaw their way out at about the time 

 the nuts are dropping but many do not escape until mid-winter 

 and many others die within the shell. Several were observed 

 leaving nuts, that had lately been placed in a warm room, on 

 January 6th. 



The beetles, when not engaged in feeding or oviposition, 

 have a habit of hiding in dead leaves that are brown and curled 

 and that can be found adhering here and there to the branches. 

 I have examined infested trees on dark days when it seemed that 

 practically every beetle present was hiding in these leaves. Al- 

 most every leaf that was in the proper condition contained one 

 or more beetles. I tried hanging bunches of dead leaves to the 

 lower branches and succeeded in trapping many of the insects by 

 that means. Old gunny sacks were tried in the same way but to 

 no purpose for they did not attract the beetles. It is possible 

 that trapping with bunches of dead leaves, or some similar de- 

 vice, might be practiced with benefit in cultivated orchards of 

 pecan and hickory. Other weevils of the group hide in much the 

 same manner but not to the extent of this species. 



THE HAZELNUT WEEVIL, Balaninus obtusus Blanch. 



The hazelnut industry is not large in West Virginia and 

 yet in some sections the nuts are gathered in considerable quan- 

 tities from the wild bushes and are sold in the local markets or 

 stored for home use. They are very highly prized on account of 

 their rich flavor. Wherever the nuts grow, in this State, they 

 are attacked in varying degrees by the hazelnut weevil. In some 



