THE LESSER CLOVER-LEAF WEEVIL. 



9 



Mr. Hyslop found that the female, when confined on a leaf, frequently 

 placed her eggs interepidermally in the cavity between the upper and 

 lower epidermis along the sides of the midrib, inserting them through 

 an opening made on the upper surface of the leaf, and in groups of 

 from one to four. About this time Mr. Hyslop was expecting daily 

 to start for the Pacific coast, and both he and Mr. V. L. Wildermuth 

 carried on the investigation for a short time together, but neither 

 was able to find eggs deposited in or on the surface of the leaves, in 

 the fields, although they did 

 find them pushed transversely 

 under the epidermis of the base 

 of the leaf sheaths (see fig. 7). 

 When the female was confined 

 on a single leaf, eggs were often 

 found in groups, placed with 

 no reference to the midvein, and 

 in such cases there was a decep- 

 tive resemblance to a matrix of 

 adhesive mucilaginous matter 

 with the eggs placed on instead 

 of in the leaf. Mr. Wildermuth, 

 however, discovered that this 

 illusion was due to the fact that 

 the incision in the leaf was made 

 in the upper surface, through 

 the substance to the lower epi- 

 dermis, so that when the eggs 

 were pushed into the sac thus 

 formed they lay between the 

 leaf-substance on one side and 

 the epidermis on the other, and 

 were thus forced against this 

 elastic and nearly transparent 

 lower epidermis, which, while 

 remaining intact, became so 

 adjusted about the group of 

 eggs as to give them the ap- 

 pearance of having been placed on the surface and in a matrix which 

 hardened and adhered to both eggs and leaf surface. Figure 6 shows 

 an egg greatly enlarged, with the epidermal covering removed, show- 

 ing the granulation of the eggshell. Mr. Wildermuth, late in April, 

 examined hundreds of leaves without finding a single egg on the leaf 

 itself, while there was no difficulty whatever experienced in finding 

 them, more often in threes, placed under the epidermis of the basal 

 leaf sheaths as shown in figure 7. So uniformly was this the case 



Fig. l.—a, Clover plant showing place of oviposition 

 of the lesser clover-leaf weevil; o, section of same, 

 greatly enlarged ; c, leaf showing holes made by larvae 

 of the lesser clover-leaf weevil {Phytonomus nigri- 

 rostris) and edges eaten out by the clover-leaf weevil 

 (P.punctatus). (Original.) 



