2 



this from other insects. We have a long-horned beetle, the grab 

 of which lives in pine timber — the Rhagium lineatum — which is 

 much more common, and strikingly resembles this weevil in size, 

 color and form, but is readily distinguished from it, by having a 

 projecting spine, or tooth, on each side of the thorax. 



Hitherto, so far as I am aware, nothing has been known respect- 

 ing the habits of this weevil ; and the facts mentioned by Mr. 

 Wetmore, that it eats the young buds and tender twigs of the 

 apple tree, causing them to wilt and die, passing from one bud to 

 another, and, when satisfied, concealing itself under a leaf, until 

 prompted by hunger, it crawls forth to take another repast, are 

 very interesting, and will not fail to attract the notice of the fruit 

 culturist. "When these insects are present in numbers upon a 

 tree, perhaps the best mode to get rid of them will be to spread 

 sheets under the tree, and then shake the tree, or beat upon it 

 with a pole. The insects, thus disturbed, will drop upon the 

 sheets, and may be gathered up and killed by throwing them 

 into a kettle of boiling water. They may then be fed to the 

 hens. 



Should a favorable season, or any other cause, lead to its be- 

 coming greatly multiplied at any time, it is easy to perceive that 

 this weevil would be a great pest in our orchards. And that it 

 will become thus multiplied, now and then, in particular dis- 

 tricts, I do not doubt, history will show — this being the case 

 with nearly all of our injurious insects. Commonly, their num- 

 bers are so few, that no notice is taken of their depredations. 

 But, at times, they become so excessively numerous, as to commit 

 great havoc and prove themselves a terrible scourge. An instance 

 of this has recently been communicated to me. The common 

 May beetle of our country, Phyllophaga quercina, as it is named 

 in Dr. Harris's Treatise on Injurious Insects, (a work by the by, 

 which should be in the hands of every farmer, gardener and 

 fruit grower, now that a new edition has rendered it attainable 

 to all,) is seldom noticed as being a depredator at least in this 

 section of the State. Milo Ingalsbe, E«q., President of our coun- 

 ty Agricultural Society, informs me that upon his place at South 

 Haiiford, he has about seventy plum trees, which were splendid- 



