99 



The species was first noticed in that section about live years previous 

 to the date of writing, no one having seen them earlier. The insect 

 was known by the name of the rose curculio. 



This curculio has been known for some time to live upon wild roses, 

 and as early as 1889 was stated to feed upon both rose and raspberry 

 (James Cassidy, Bui. 6, Colo. State Agl. College Exp. Station, p. 18). 



June 2, 1891, Mr. Arthur Boyle, Santa Fe, N. Mex. , sent specimens 

 of this beetle with report that it was proving very injurious to roses 

 in that vicinity, where it had not been known as a pest before. The 

 beetles were stated to be frequently caught with their long snouts 

 buried deep in the rosebuds, and they seemed also to cut the stem or 

 otherwise injure the bud at the thin portion of the stalk below the 

 calyx. The bud afterwards dropped and died (Insect Life, Vol. IV, p. 

 137). In volume VII of the same publication (p. 211) this species is 

 stated by Prof. T. D. A. Cockerell to be very troublesome at Santa 

 Fe, N. Mex. , by eating holes into 

 buds and bud-stalks of roses, as 

 well as the expanded petals. 



July 30, 1897, we received spec- 

 imens from Dr. E. V. Wilcox with 

 the statement that the beetles bore 

 holes into rosebuds and are much 

 complained of at Bozeman and 

 Missoula, Mont. 



This species is also stated to be 

 very common and destructive to 

 roses in Minnesota, destroying 

 both flower-buds and flowers and 

 depositing eggs in the fruit in 

 which the } T oung mature (Lugger, 5th Annual Report Entom. of Minn, 

 for 1899, p. 180). 



In the report of Mr. Alexander Craw as Quarantine Officer and 

 Entomologist to the State Board of Horticulture of California for 

 1893-'91 (p. 86), mention is made of this species, with the statement 

 that it is frequently found on ripe blackberries and raspberries, punc- 

 turing the fruit with its beak and causing it to decay. 



The rose curculio is one of the Rhynehophora typical of the family 

 Rhynchitida?, and may readily be known by its red thorax and elytra 

 and black ventral surface, snout, and legs. In eastern specimens the 

 colors are as indicated, but westward, in Colorado, specimens are found 

 in which the greater part of the head is red, including most of the 

 antenna? and the legs. ' The form of the insect is well illustrated at 

 figure 26. The rostrum, or snout, it will be noticed, is ver} r long — 

 nearly a third the length of the entire body, and the antennae are 

 slender, with a well-marked three-jointed club. The length, exclusive 

 of the snout, is a little less than a fourth of an inch (5 — 6 mm.). 



Fig. 26. — Rhynchites bicolor: a, female beetle; b, 

 claw; c, female in outline from side; a, c, enlarg- 

 ed; b, more enlarged (original). 



