179 



feeding they convert the entire interior of the nut into fine, 

 granular excrement. 



Several nuts on the trees that were marked at the time eggs 

 were deposited in them dropped in from 15 to 20 days there- 

 after. The larvae remain in the nuts for a week or two after 

 they drop and then make their exit through holes eaten in the 

 shell at the point where the wound was made in depositing the 

 egg. They enter the ground to a depth of from one to two inches 

 and soon change to pupae. 



A few individuals were found that pupated in the nut. These 

 were supposed, at first, to belong to another species but proved 

 on reaching the adult stage to be the same as those that trans- 

 formed in the ground. 



Most of the young adults appear in August and September. 

 My record for the first individual to issue in breeding jars is 

 August 12th and for the last October 10th. The winter is passed 

 in the beetle stage. 



Mr. W. Dwight Pierce reared beetles of this species from 

 fallen hickorynuts in Louisiana in July, 1906. (Entomological 

 News, Vol. 18, 1907, p. 362.) 



ACORN CURCULIOS. 



In addition to the several species of Balaninus that depre- 

 date on acorns, a large number of two species of curculios were 

 reared from infested nuts of white and chestnut oak. The habits 

 of the two species are somewhat similar and in color and struc- 

 ture they are much alike. Both deposit their eggs in acorns in 

 the fall and the larvae issue from the nuts during the succeed- 

 ing winter and spring and enter the ground, where they trans- 

 form to adults about mid-summer. 



THE LARGER ACORN CURCULIO, Conotrachelus naso Lee. 



This beetle is about the size and color of the walnut curculio, 

 the most conspicuous difference being the longer and more slen- 

 der snout. The color is dull brown mixed with black. On the 



