INSECTS INJURING OAK-LEAVES. 203 
284. The leaf-rolling weevil. 
Attelabus bipustulatus Fabr. 
Order Coleoptera; family Curculionid.e. 
Rolling up the leaves of the red, post, and laurel oak (Q. imbricaria), late in April, 
forming compact, cylindrical cases containing a single egg ; the case dropping to the 
ground, the larva after hatching feeding on the food around it, and finally transform- 
ing into a long-snouted weevil. A second brood of larvae in July. (Murtfeldt.) 
This beetle has the curious habit of rolling up a leaf, trimming and 
tucking in the lower ends with her beak. The egg is first deposited near 
the tip of the leaf, and a little to one side ; the blade of the leaf is then 
cut through on both sides of the midrib, about an inch and a half be- 
low ; a row of punctures is made on each side of the midrib of the sev- 
ered portion, which facilitates folding the leaf together, upper surface 
inside, after which the folded leaf is tightly rolled up from the apex to 
the transverse cut, bringing the egg in the center; the concludiug oper- 
ation is the tucking in and trimming off the irregularities of the ends. 
A few days after completion the cases, first observed the latter part of 
April, drop to the ground; by May 15 several larvae hatched and fed on 
the dry substance of their nest, and by the end of May they pupated 
within the nest; this state lasted from five to seven days, the first 
beetles issuing by June 2, while a second brood of larvae may be found 
early in July. (Murtfeldt.) 
" On the leaves of the laurel oak, in the neighbor- 
hood of St. Louis, Mo., are often found in May little 
thimble-shaped cases, which are the work of the above 
insect. The tips of the leaves are folded and rolled up 
into that peculiar shape after the egg has been de- 
posited. 
" The egg is almost globular, slightly ovoid, tender, 
pale yellowish, and translucent. It is deposited near 
the tip on the under side of the leaf. The leaf is then FlG ; M.-Aiteiabus 
cut transversely near its middle, punctured a short smith dk"' 1 **'" 
distance each side of midrib, which causes it to fold 
with its lower side out, then curled round, and the outer edges tucked 
in." (Riley's unpublished notes.) 
The larva.— Average dorsal length, 0.22 inch ; diameter on abdominal segments, 0.06 
inch, tapering anteriorly from fourth segment. Yellowish white ; thoracic segments 
slightly depressed on the back and smaller beneath ; abdominal segments convex 
above and flat beneath, each one divided into three irregular shallow transverse folds, 
lateral surfaces with a double row of smooth polished oval tubercles, most symmetrical 
in form and position from segments 4 to 11 inclusive; above the tubercles on each 
segment is a deep depression. Head horizontal, rounded, small, about half the* diam- 
eter of segment next behind, into which it retreats ; white, the mandibles and other 
mouth parts reddish brown, surrounded by long hairs. 
