32 



THE HICKORY-NUT WEEVIL. 



(Balaninus caryx Horn. ) 



Nearly every year inquiry is made in regard to the cause of the 

 holes in hickory and pecan nuts, but during 1903 there were reports 

 of greater injury of this nature than ever before, more particularly 

 to pecans grown in Texas, where considerable loss was reported b}^ 

 Mr. Glenn W. Herrick, and in Georgia, where Mr. Wilmon Newell 

 stated that in one locality (Thomasville) 75 per cent of the crop was 

 a failure. A shortage was also reported near Jackson, Miss., and Mr. 

 J. F. Jones estimated the loss of 25 per cent of the crop in the vicinity 

 of Monticello, Fla. There is little doubt that the species of weevil 

 involved in attack in all cases is Balaninus carym Horn, although the 

 adult has not as yet been reared. 



As this species may be destined to become one of the principal pests 



of the pecan orchards of the 

 South, the accompanying illus- 

 tration is furnished, together 

 with a few words of descrip- 

 tion. The beetle (fig. 11) is 

 quite as large as the chinquapin 

 weevil, from which it ma} T be 

 distinguished, however, be- 

 cause of the first antennal joint 

 being longer than the second, 

 and in the much darker color. 

 The ground color is dark 

 brown, nearty black, and the 

 scaly covering (which charac- 

 terizes the chinquapin and 

 chestnut weevils) in this species 

 is less obvious, much darker, and hair-like. Moreover, the rostrum 

 of the female is comparatively a little shorter, although of about of 

 the same curvature, and less widened at the base. 



The larva differs from that of jjroboscidetis in being decidedly yellow, 

 having the head bright red and wider than long. The cervical plate is 

 also darker. 



This species was described from Brooklyn, N. Y., in 1873 (Horn, 

 Proc. Amer. Phil. Soc, Vol. XIII, p. 160). In the national collec- 

 tion are specimens from St. Vincent, Allegheny, Limerick, and else- 

 where in Pennsylvania; Cincinnati, Ohio; Sharpstown, Ind.; Vir- 

 ginia; Iowa City, Iowa, and Holly Springs, Miss. 



During January, 1901, Mr. Wilmon Newell sent a considerable 

 number of larvae, mostly in good condition, found in the pecan nuts. 

 Most of the nuts, however, found at this time under trees contained 

 holes from which the larvae had escaped at an earlier date. 



Fig. 11. — Hickory-nut weevil {Balaninus caryse): a, fe- 

 male, dorsal view; b, same, lateral view, in outline; 

 c, head with rostrum and antenna of male, about 

 two and one-half times natural size (original). 



