16 
Mr. 13. E. Belirend for assistance in this line. In response to numerous 
invitations from local fruit-growers, in 1893 the writer visited some of 
the infested farms in Maryland and Virginia and made some additional 
observations on the habits of the species. 
NOTES ON HABITS AND LIFE HISTORY. 
liew Food-plants; Early Appearance of the Insect. — The strawberry 
weevil was first noticed abroad April 16, 1893, and on the 15th, of 1894, 
in great abundance, on a new food-plant, the red-bud or, Judas-tree 
(Cercis canadensis), which grows in profusion along the banks of the 
Potomac, about Washington. This tree had not yet bloomed, but the 
insect had already begun its attack, as great numbers of punctured 
buds bore witness, showing that it had been at work for several days. 
Early -flowering plants were unusually backward in blooming here 
the past two seasons, and this had its effect on the appearance of the 
insect. In earlier seasons it undoubtedly appears by the first week of 
April, as the red-bud is known to bloom at that time. The beetles, then, 
arc abroad some time before strawberries bloom, and may appear on 
the vines before blossoming. They are doubtless attracted to the 
vines, however, mainly by the open flowers to which they first resort 
for food, although they also derive much nourishment from the pollen 
within the buds. 
Very soon after first bloom they are to be found in great abun- 
dance. Appearing, as they often do, in great numbers almost from the 
outset, their injuries are severe even in such seasons as the past two, 
when only from 10 to 20 per cent of a crop is lost in the aggregate, 
because the blossoms chiefly injured are the earliest, and consequently 
the shortage is largely in the early fruit, or that which would have 
brought the highest market price. 
Certain red-bud trees growing on the border of woodland, where they 
are x)rotected from the wind and fully exposed to the sun, were much 
frequented by these insects, and of the thousands of buds which they 
bore a majority were attacked and severed from the stem in the char- 
acteristic manner of this weevil. Other trees in the vicinity were com- 
paratively free from attack. One of the infested trees was visited May 
13 and the ground was seen to be strewn with the discolored buds. A 
number were gathered and examined only to find them all empty, hav- 
ing been torn open by ants, of which there were two species crawling 
in abundance about them. This would seem to prove that the red-bud 
is not necessarily a factor of great importance in the economy of this 
insect, since only such trees as are fully exposed to the sun served to 
attract the weevil in great numbers and the immature offspring of 
these are very liable to fall a prey to ants. The two species observed 
among the infested buds have been identified by Mr. Th. Pergande as 
Formica fusca Linn, and Aphcenogaster fulva Eog. 
Dewberries (Eubus canadensis) were found to be infested in about the 
