THE CLOVER-ROOT CURCULIO. 31 



clover roots and the pupa? were concealed in small earthen cells in the 

 ground, the latter requiring only a short time for development, when 

 the adults began their depredations on the remaining clover leaves. 

 It will thus be noted that its record would seem to show that it may 

 become destructive in America. 



HISTORY OF ITS OCCURRENCE IN AMERICA. 



Although it has, since the middle of the last century, been widely 

 distributed over Europe and long before that time was very common 

 in England and parts of Europe, yet it was evidently not introduced 

 into America until much later. The first specimen was collected by 

 Le Conte at Long Branch, N. J., in the year 1876, about the roots of 

 grass growing on sand dunes (Hamilton, 1894). During subsequent 

 years its appearance was also noted and collections made at various 

 places in Xew Jersey, and in 1880 Mr. E. A. Schwarz found it at 

 Piney Point, Md., while three years later it made its appearance in 

 large numbers in the city of Washington, D. C, being found there 

 oh both red and white clover on the White House lot by Mr. Henry 

 Ulke (Schwarz, 1889). 



Dr. F. H. Chittenden, of this Bureau, found the species very abun- 

 dant in Washington, D. C., in 1891, and in the spring of 1896 he found 

 the beetles on clover, many of them in copula, on the Department of 

 Agriculture grounds, but after that time he was able to find them 

 only in limited numbers. Collections made since the early observa- 

 tions of Mr. Schwarz and others show the species to be gradually 

 moving westward. In 1894 specimens were collected by the late Dr. 

 John Hamilton at Pittsburg, Pa. (Hamilton, 1894). In 1906 Mr. 

 W. J. Phillips collected one specimen with wheat sweepings at Rich- 

 mond. Inch, and in the spring of 1908 the writer found both the larva 

 and adult very plentiful at Groveport, near Columbus, Ohio. A 

 specimen was also secured at Newton-Hamilton, Pa., during the past 

 summer, and later in the season a few specimens were collected at 

 Watertown and Clyde, N. Y., and at Vicksburg, Pa.; while at Corn- 

 ing, X. Y., and at Marion, Pa., the species were found in numbers 

 large enough to be a decided detriment to the clover crop. As many 

 as two dozen adult beetles were found at the base of a single plant at 

 Corning, N. Y., and practically all the clover plants in a mixed clover 

 and timothy meadow had at least one-half to two-thirds of the 

 foliage eaten away. At Marion, Pa., the beetles were about as 

 numerous as at Corning, N. Y., and in a 16-acre clover field from 

 two to six beetles were found at the base of every plant, while the 

 damage done was readily noticeable. The damage, of course, would 

 be more apparent at this time of the year, for the cold weather had 

 alread}^ checked the growth of the clover plants and enabled the 



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