Nut and Acorn Weevils^ 



Charles W. Leng 



I suppose everyone knows what a " wormy " chestnut is like 

 and probably most naturalists know that the " worm " hatches 

 into a beetle called Balaninus (from the Greek word for nut) 

 and that the different species of that genus live as larvae in 

 chestnuts, hickory nuts, hazelnuts, and acorns. 



Such general information seems to date from far back in the 

 literature but the more precise data appear to be comparatively 

 recent and in some respects still incomplete. Thus the raising 

 of the hickory nut weevil is credited to John Akhurst, with whom 

 some of us as boys were acquainted, and of the hazelnut weevil 

 to Frederick Blanchard, whose death we noted only a year ago. 

 The ecological relations of these beetles have often been men- 

 tioned and are well summarized in Entomology Circular 99 of 

 the U. S. Department of Agriculture, by F. H. Chittenden. 

 Much of the new information contained in that circular was 

 accumulated by Fred. E. Brooks, whose paper. Snout Beetles 

 that Injure Nuts, in Bull. 128, W. Va. Agric. Exper. Sta., is 

 the most recent contribution to our knowledge of the genus, and 

 contains many details not elsewhere recorded. 



I may here state that on page 158, second line, Mr. Brooks 

 has inadvertently written " longer " for " shorter," and, that 

 according to my views, as explained later on, his B. rectus Say 

 is B. algonqninus Casey, while his B. qnerciis Horn and B. 

 orthorhynchus Chitt. are the true B. rectus Say. Otherwise his • 

 presentment of the subject is complete, accurate, clear, and a 

 most admirable result of long, painstaking fieldwork. 



Condensing the information he and others have supplied gives 

 the following facts : 



^ Presented at the meeting of the Section of Biology February 15, 1915. 



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