THE PARSLEY STALK WEEVIL. 
17 
late as September 4, hatching in the outside leaf-stems and burrowing 
through until they had penetrated the root. In the illustration (fig. 4) 
injured plants are shown, the one on the right containing a larva, 
natural size, in the roots. 
OVIPOSITION. 
It was readily learned that the beetles deposited their eggs in parsley 
stalks, large punctured areas corresponding to the diameter of the 
snout of the beetle being noticeable from a point just below the top 
Fig. 4.— Parsley roots showing work of parsley stalk weevil. (Original.) 
of the stalks nearly to their base. Three or four such places of egg 
deposit are usually seen in a large stalk. The usual number of eggs 
inserted seems to be two, although frequently a third is found and 
sometimes only one. Most curculionids, however, deposit a single 
egg in a slit made for the purpose. Where the stalk has attained 
sufficient size and strength to continue growth after the beetle has 
deposited its eggs, the larva lives within it, going downward into the 
roots. In some cases plants are killed by too many punctures, par- 
ticularly when quite small and delicate, and then the larvae desert the 
