i 4 9 



NOTES ON THE 

 WEEVIL-COCOONS OF THE FIQWORTS. 



H. WALLIS KEW, F.Z.S.. 



London ; formerly of Louth, Lincolnshire. 



Some time ago, when attempting to understand the manner in 

 which the larvae of the weevils of the genera Hypera and Cionus 

 form their cocoons, the writer appealed to Mr. C. S. Carter of 

 Louth, with a request that he would search for these structures, 

 particularly those of the common Betony- or Figwort-Weevil 

 {Cionus scrophularice) which were to be looked for on the Water- 

 arid Wood-Figworts, Scrophularia aquatica and Scrophularia 

 nodosa. Mr. Carter was at first unsuccessful, but subsequentlv 

 he became familiar with the cocoons of Cionus, and in Julv last 

 sent me specimens on Scrophularia aquatica from Ticklepenny's 

 Lock on the Louth Canal, and on the same plant from near the 

 water-works in Hubbard's Valley, near Louth. The writer has 

 found both larvae and cocoons at Hampstead, in the Queen's 

 Wood at Highgate, in a wood behind Darwin's at Down, etc., 

 all on Scrophularia nodosa ; and during a recent visit to Lincoln- 

 shire, in August, a fine growth of Scrophularia aquatica in 

 a ditch by the roadside at Redhill, Goulceby, was observed to 

 be much infested with the perfect-insects, which were seated 

 on the plants in the vicinity of their empty cocoons. There are 

 six or seven species of Cionus in these Islands, all of which are 

 attached to the Figworts — as well as to the Mulleins ( Verbascum) 

 but the perfect-insects sent to me by Mr. Carter from the two 

 localities above noted, as well as those reared from Hampstead 

 larvae, and those found at Goulceby, all pertained to Cionus 

 scrophularice. The beetle is easily recognisable, but to give the 

 identification the value of authenticity I availed myself of the 

 kindness of the Rev. Canon Fowler, who obligingly looked at the 

 Hampstead specimens. Though somewhat local, this Figwort- 

 Weevil is common where it occurs, and doubtless many readers ot 

 ' The Naturalist ' have observed its curious cocoons, and viewed 

 them inquisitively, and it is for this reason that 1 am venturing 

 to call attention to the subject here, and to refer to some in- 

 formation already published by me in a series of ' Notes on 

 Spinning Animals' — articles IX. and X., 'Larvae of Weevils, 1 

 'Science Gossip' (n.s.), VIII. (1901), pp. 70-1 and 137-S. 



The larvae of Hypera and of the species of Cionus with which 

 we are here concerned, though legless, are not buried in 



1902 May 1. 



