14 BULLETIN 1066, U. S. DEPARTMENT OE AGRICULTURE. 



found parasitic upon the larvae ; one of these was determined, by Mr. 

 R. A. Cushman as Triaspis curculionis var. rufus (Eiley) and the 

 other by Mr. C. F. W. Muesebeck as a new species of Microgaster. 

 Pierce 21 records rearing the parasitic fly Myiophasia aenea Wied. 

 from this host. 



THE HICKORY-SHOOT CURCULIO. 12 



Soon after the growth of hickory begins in the spring the tender 

 tips and leaf petioles may be found disfigured by dark, V-shaped 

 marks on the bark about an eighth of an inch long. (PL VII, B,) 

 These are the egg punctures of a small snout-beetle which may be 

 known as the hickory-shoot curculio. Often these marks occur in 

 series of from 5 to 10 along the shoot, one above each leaf axil. Ex- 

 amination of these marks usually discloses either the single white 

 egg (PL VII, G ; PL VIII, i) or a small white grub feeding in the 

 stem (PL VII, D and E). The affected tip or leaf usually withers 

 and drops as a result of the injury. No instance of serious loss 

 from this insect has come under the writer's notice, but injurious 

 attacks, especially to newly transplanted hickory trees, are a pos- 

 sibility. 



DISTRIBUTION. 



This species was described from Kentucky in 1824 and has since 

 been recorded from Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Jersey, Florida, 

 and Texas. The writer has found it abundantly at French Creek, 

 W. Va., and has observed its work in other West Virginia localities. 



FOOD PLANTS. 



This curculio has been observed attacking the shoots of the fol- 

 lowing hickories in West Virginia: Hicoria minima, E. ovata, H. 

 alba, H. glabra, and H. pecan. 



LIFE HISTORY. 



The egg (PL VII, ; PL VIII, A) is oval, oblong, creamy white, 

 semitransparent, and averages 1.1 mm. by 0.7 mm. It occupies a 

 shallow cavity at the side of an elongate slit which the female beetle 

 makes with her snout in the bark of tender twigs and leaf petioles. 

 (PL VII, A.) After the egg is deposited the bark over the egg 

 cavity and along the edges of the slit turns dark and the wound 

 shows as a blackish, triangular spot on the green bark. (PL VII, B.) 

 Several eggs laid on May 24 hatched on May 30, the incubation 

 period being six days. 



11 PIERCE, W. DWIGHT. A LIST OP PARASITES KNOWN TO ATTACK AMERICAN RHYNCHO- 



phora. In Jour. Econ. Exit., v. 1, no. 6, p. 390. 1908. 



12 Conotrachelus aratus Germ., suborder Rbyncbopbora, family Curculionidae, tribe 

 Cryptorbyncbird. 



