2 BULLETIN 730, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



growing became suddenly wormy and were ruined. Fortunately 

 losses from this pest are easily preventable when an intelligent use is 

 made of available means of control. The present bulletin gives an 

 account of an investigation of this species that was carried out 

 principally in a badly infested locality in Central West Virginia 

 during the years 1916 and 1917. 



ECONOMIC HISTORY. 



This curculio seems first to have been noted as an enemy of the 

 grape in the vicinity of Cincinnati, Ohio, in the year 1853 (2).i 

 Walsh (5) states that it ruined fruit at Cobden, 111., in the period 



1863 to 1865 and at Hudson and Marietta, Ohio, from 1863 to 1867, 

 and that in 1867 16 acres of grapes at Big Hill, Ky., were destroyed. 

 He states also (4) that it was destructive at Carbondale, 111., from 



1864 to 1867. In 1890 Kiley (15) quotes a correspondent from 

 London, Ky., who said that the grape curculio was doing more 

 damage than all else combined. In 1891 Webster (16) found the 

 insect in Franklin County, Ark., and learned that it had been increas- 

 ing there for at least 10 years and that it had become almost impos- 

 sible to obtain crops of fruit without bagging the clusters. Brooks (30) 

 quotes correspondents who showed that in West Virginia it was gen- 

 erally distributed and very destructive to grapes during the years 

 1899 to 1905. 



SYNONYMY. 



The grape curculio was first described in 1831 by Say (1) under 

 the name Ceutorliynclius inaequalis, from specimens collected in 

 Indiana, where, he states, many beetles were collected in the spring, 

 resting upon a newly constructed fence. Le Conte (8), in his revision 

 of Say's work, placed the species in the genus Coeliodes, but later (11) 

 erected for it the genus Craponius. The synonymy, therefore, is as 

 follows : 



CeutorhynchiLS inaequalis Say, 1831 (1). 

 Coeliodes inaequalis (Say) Le Conte, 1869 (8). 

 Craponius inaequalis (Say) Le Conte, 1876 (11). 



COMMON NAMES. 



On account of the larva's habit of attacking the seed as well as the 

 pulp of the fruit, the common name " grape-seed weevil" was applied 

 to the species by early writers. At present the common name 

 "grape curculio" is in general use. 



1 Numbers inclosed in parentheses refer to "Bibliography," p. 16. 



