2 CEREAL AND FORAGE INSECTS. 



in this stage, and also as larvae and pupae, it probably lives on Tri- 

 folium agrarium. The individuals that have recently passed from 

 the pupal to the perfect state are of a clear brown color and soon take 

 on a green color with warmth [on drying]. 



" Larva and pupa. — It makes a little cocoon on the leaves of 

 Ononis spinosa exactly similar in texture to that of H. tessellata, but 

 smaller by half and perfectly ovoid." 



HISTORY OF THE LESSER CLOVER-LEAF WEEVIL IN AMERICA. 



Just when the species was introduced into America it is now 

 impossible to state. Messrs. Hubbard and Schwarz collected it in 

 eastern Massachusetts during the winter of 1873-74, and Mr. Blan- 

 chard, one of the oldest and most careful collectors of New England 

 Coleoptera, is of the opinion that it might have occurred there as 

 early at least as 1865. In connection with this information it must 

 be remembered that up to the time of the publication by Le Conte 

 and Horn of their " Rhynchophora of America North of Mexico," in 

 1876, our information on this group of insects was very obscure. 

 Besides this, we do not know how long the species had been known 

 by Provancher prior to his description of the species in 1877. As 

 it first became injurious in New Brunswick and elsewhere in extreme 

 eastern Canada, there are fairly good reasons for the assumption 

 that it first gained a foothold in that part of the country, from which 

 it spread by natural diffusion into New York and New England, and 

 while Mr. Blanchard has cautioned me against placing too much 

 stress on his opinion as above expressed, it seems to me that it is of 

 sufficient value to be placed on record in this connection. As a mat- 

 ter of fact, the species in all probability occurred in limited numbers 

 in the sections of the country above mentioned long before its dis- 

 covery there by entomologists, precisely as was the case with the 

 allied species Phytonomus punctatus in New York. 



It was not, however, included in any of the earlier lists of the 

 Coleoptera of America north of Mexico, appearing first in Austin's 

 supplement published in 1880. Prior to this, however, in 1876, it 

 had been included by Le Conte and Horn in their " Rhynchophora 

 of America North of Mexico," its distribution being there given as 

 " Massachusetts and Canada." A year later, Abbe Provancher 

 described it in his "Petite Faune Entomologique du Canada" under 

 the name Erirhinus viridis. 



In 1884 a Dr. James Fletcher stated that during the month of July 

 he had found a small Phytonomus committing great damage in the 

 clover at Dalhousie, New Brunswick. He had taken it for P. nigri- 

 rostris at first, but fancied it might be a different species, as nearly 

 all the specimens reared were light cinnamon brown in color. (These 



a See bibliography, p. 12. 



