THE LESSER CLOVER-LEAF WEEVIL. 11 



DESCRIPTIONS. 



The adult (fig. 1). — "Green; snout black. Inhabits England. Herbst. Arch. tab. 

 24, fig. 3. Head brown; snout cylindrical, black, polished; thorax gibbous, rounded, 

 green, with 2 dorsal brown lines; shells downy, immaculate; legs brown." (Original 

 description.) 



The egg (figs. 6, 8). — The egg is ovoid, pale greenish at first, but darker as incubation 

 advances, surface distinctly reticulated. Length, 0.55 mm to 0.63 mm ; width, 0.35 mm 

 to 0.36 mm . (Description by Hyslop and Webster.) 



The young larva. — The newly hatched larva is 1.25 mm in length and 0.25 mm broad. 

 Color white, with pinkish tinge, best seen on ventral surface. Head large, with the 

 cervical shield pale brown, the latter divided by a broad median white line, the 

 inverted V-shaped mark on head also white; body with sparsely placed setae, longer 

 and more conspicuous on the anal segments. In a short time the pink tinge disap- 

 pears, the head becomes black, and the inverted V-shape line extends across the 

 now black thoracic shield, and along the entire length of the body it is produced in a • 

 very delicate, pale median dorsal line. (Description by Wildermuth and Webster.) 



The full-grown larva. — The full-grown larva is of a greenish straw color. Head light 

 brown. The inverted V-shaped white line is still quite visible on the head. The 

 cervical shield has lost its color, but the faint dorsal white line is still noticeable 

 throughout the whole length of the body. The setae are still prominent, there being 

 four long ones on each segment, those on the last two segments being very long. 

 (Description by Wildermuth and Webster.) 



The pupa. — Pupa distinctly resembling the adult. Abdomen almost colorless, with 

 a slight tinge of yellow. Head, thorax, and appendages increasing in density of 

 black from time of pupation until emergence. A very distinct white line passes 

 through center of dorsal surface of thorax and head, and continues on through the 

 beak, where it reaches its greatest width. (Description by Wildermuth.) 



NATURAL ENEMIES. 



Two parasites have been reared from the larvse of this species. 

 Among the material brought into the office by Mr. Caudell on June 

 12, collected about the golf grounds near Chevy Chase, were two 

 cocoons of this species, one of them containing a larva which at the 

 time appeared to be dead. A few days later, however, this larva 

 made its way out of the cocoon, and in crawling toward the mouth of 

 the breeding vial it pushed its way between the end of the cork stopper 

 and the side of the vial, where it transformed to a puparium. On 

 the morning of June 23 from this puparium a small fly emerged, 

 determined by Mr. D. W. Coquillett as Hypostena variabilis Coq., 

 one of the Tachinidse. There can be no doubt that it is parasitic on 

 the larva of P. nigrirostris. 



A larva taken from a clover head beside Grant road, in the District 

 of Columbia, June 26, 1908, developed into an adult hymenopterous 

 parasite that emerged July 8, 1908. It was determined by Mr. J. C. 

 Crawford as Bracon sp. 



The pupae are destroyed by a fungus [Empusa {Entomophthora) 

 sphserosperma]. Should the pest ever become excessively abundant 

 it will prove not only a difficult one to manage, but decidedly destruc- 



