171 



THE STRAIGHT-SNOUTED ACORN WEEVIL, Balaninus 



orthorhynchus Chittn. 



This is one of our common species on biennial oaks. I have 

 found it in about equal numbers on red, scarlet and black oaks 

 but have never found it on the annuals. This species has been 

 recorded from "West Virginia and Texas only. It was first des- 

 cribed in 1908 by Dr. Chittenden. 



The color is dull, yellowish brown in fresh specimens and 

 dark, reddish brown where the vestiture is rubbed off. There are 

 usually numerous spots of lighter color on the back but these 

 are very small and indistinct. The female is three-tenths of an 

 inch in length and the snout, which is straight with the excep- 

 tion of a very slight curve near the point, is the same length as 

 the body. The male averages distinctly smaller than the female 

 and the snout is only half as long as the body. 



The beetles are found on the trees from about the middle 

 of August until the acorns drop in the fall. 



In preparing a place in the acorn for her 

 egg, the female has the peculiar habit of be- 

 ginning her puncture on the side of the little 

 tip or beak that projects at the apex of the 

 nut. In more than thirty acts of egg laying 

 that I have recorded this rule has not been de- 

 ; ^X7 sj n parted from. The hole is drilled from the 

 CJ C/(J side of this beak directly to the kernel and at 

 that point branches and extends between the kernel and shell 

 as deep as the length of the snout will permit. After each 

 branch of the egg-gallery is completed an egg is deposited at the 

 bottom. A female that was watched on September 7th, 1907, 

 spent 45 minutes in preparing a place for and depositing her 

 first egg and then added other eggs at intervals of 21, 14, 9 and 

 23 minutes, the whole operation lasting for an hour and 52 min- 

 utes. Not more than six eggs have been found in one set. After 

 the last egg is inserted the beetle deposits a liberal quantity of 



