IS 



PBELIAIEN'AEY EEPOET OX ALFALFA WEEVIL. 



A 



M 



I 



some cause, perhaps simple oxidation, and appear quite different 

 froni the "feeding L I - that are much more common. These latter 

 are either saucer or cup shaped cavities eaten into the plant stem or 

 punctures through the epidermis that are enlarged inside the stem. 



In one alfalfa stem Mr. Ainslie found 4 egg ' 'nests," the holes being 

 in pairs. These pairs were one-half to three-fourths of an inch 

 between the separate holes, and each pair was in a separate node, the 



pairs perhaps 3 inches dis- 

 tant from each other. There 

 must have been 30 or 4 eggs 

 at least in this one stalk. It 



icked from a vigor 

 crown growing beside a ma- 

 nure pile, and nearly every 

 other stem in this crown con- 

 tained eggs. These sho 

 were tall and had evidently 

 grown rapidly. Indeed this 

 ans to be the kind of stem 

 chosen by this insect in 

 which to place the eggs; 

 shorter, woodier stems seem 

 seldom to be selected for this 

 pun , 



As observed by Me 

 v\ ilson and Parks, assistants 

 of the bureau, the female 

 beetle, after excavating the 

 cavity for the eggs, inserted 

 her ovipositor and laid a 

 number of eggs before re- 

 moving the ovipositor from 

 the cavity. After this she 

 began beating it up and down 

 rapidly over the puncture as 

 though pounding the orifice, 

 sometimes but not alw ; 

 excreting a drop of watery 

 material over the puncture. This secret ion when hardened appeared to 

 seal the opening. In some cases the arrangement of the eggs in r 

 on each side of the puncture, as described by Mr. Ainslie rifled. 



r. Titus has described the egg ■ as being oval, rounded at the en 

 and when first deposited lemon-yellow in color. As the eggs incu- 

 bate they become darker at one end and a deeper yellow in the other 



Fig. 4-— The alfalfa weevil: hcswz- attacking a sprig of 

 alfalfa, and eg^s, in ti:u: larva, enlarged, at right. 

 (Author's illustration-) 



1 Bulletin 110, Utah Act. Coll. Exp. Sta.. p. M, September. 1910. 



