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back are several small spots of a lighter shade due to the dirty, 

 white pubescence that sparcely clothes the body. 



On September 24th, 1907 I watched one of these beetles de- 

 positing eggs in a chestnut oak acorn. It had selected an acorn 

 that had the shell cracked so that there was no covering to pene- 

 trate in getting at the meat. The insect spent 15 minutes in 

 making an egg chamber of the desired depth. She worked 

 with considerable energy and every few seconds her beak would 

 be withdrawn from the opening with a chip of the meat held in 

 the jaws. These chips were placed in a small heap by the side 

 of the opening and, when the excavating was done and the egg 

 inserted, the chips were packed loosely about the egg until the 

 cavity was filled. One of the beetles was seen feeding on a chest- 

 nut but no eggs were deposited in this nut. 



This species was reared from both white and chestnut oak 

 acorns, the beetles issuing from the earth in June and July. It 

 has been bred in Texas from acorns of post oak. 



The egg is creamy white, oval, .03 inch long and .015 inch 

 wide, the surface being delicately granular. A dozen or more 

 eggs may be deposited in one acorn. 



THE SMALLER ACORN CURCULIO, Conotrachelus posticatus Boh. 



This beetle is smaller than the one just described, the snout 

 being shorter and stouter. The color and general appearance of 

 the two species are similar. 



The adults were not observed on the trees and no eggs of 

 this species have come under my observation. They were reared 

 abundantly from chestnut oak acorns. The adults issued from 

 the ground in breeding jars during June, July and August. 

 F. M. Webster has reared this species from white oak acorns and 

 E. A. Swartz records that the larvae dwell within the galls of 

 certain Phylloxera on hickory leaves. W. D. Pierce has bred it 

 from prematurely fallen hickorynuts in Louisiana. 



