JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
174 
Dean, Esq.; J. J. Casswell, Esq. The Society also continues its 
prize for button-holes, and several other special prizes are expected. 
The Show will be held at Woodhays, Wimbledon ; L. Walters, 
Esq., having generously placed his grounds at the disposal of 
the Committee. Any information on the affairs of the Society 
will be readily given by the Secretary, Mr. H. A. Eolt, Maud 
Villas, Gladstone Eoad, Wimbledon. 
CHAPTERS ON INSECTS FOR GARDENERS.—No. 19. 
NEW SERIES. 
The moral force of a proverb sometimes quoted in favour of the 
habit of early rising, that “the early bird catches the worm,” has 
been weakened by the insinuation that the worm must be up as 
early, or perhaps earlier than the bird, otherwise it would not thus 
fall a victim. By a wise natural provision there is a harmony, so 
to speak, between the movements of birds and those of the living 
creatures upon which many feed. Vegetable food falling short in 
Fig. 41.—Tomicus typographic 
magnified. 
the opening months of the year, birds of various species hunt 
eagerly after such insects as may be stirring, nor do they hesitate to 
seize and devour some of those hard-cased beetles which may 
seem to present uninviting morsels. Not a few insects also, beetles 
and others, are brought into view by the changes produced upon 
the soil by the frost or the rains, and their hybernation comes to a 
sudden finish. Many soft larvae and pupae are devoured in early 
spring by birds, by other insects, and even by slugs. 
Proceeding with our notice of the weevils we reach a destructive 
family, the Otiorhynchidae, so called from the ear-like appendages 
on each side of the short thick beak. Almost all the species here 
are injurious, and a large proportion of them are general feeders. 
About the bulkiest of them, and perhaps on the whole the worst as 
a foe to succulent plants, is Otiorhynchus sulcatus, a handsome 
species, its black and grooved wing-cases having a velvety down 
upon them. This appears during the summer when the female 
beetles, by night usually, deposit their eggs in the stems of plants 
Fig. 40.—Scolytus destructor 
magnified. 
Fig. 42.—Tomicus typograplius flying. 
just below the surface of the earth. The larvae hatch out soon 
after—fat whitish grubs, minus legs, hut armed with stiff hairs, by 
means of which they wriggle for short distances. Their proceed¬ 
ings go on through the winter, the larvae thriving at the expense of 
the plants in which they are burrowing until May, when they are 
fully grown. O. picipes is also a pretty species. The larva is a subter¬ 
raneous feeder, hut the mature beetle does greater damage than the 
larva generally, coming out in companies during April and May to 
bite the young leaves. This is less than the preceding, chestnut brown, 
and curiously marked with circular lines. To specify another of 
this family we take 0. tenebricosus, an insect that from its par¬ 
tiality to the Apricot has been termed the “ Apricot beetle,” a 
dusky black species, with the head, thorax, and wing-cases thickly 
dotted and punctured. Here again mischief is done both by larva 
and beetle, although it weakens rather than destroys the fruit trees 
it visits. Besides the Apricot all trees against walls are particularly 
liable to be affected; Vines are attacked in hothouses, where the larvae 
are occasionally detected at the roots. Gardeners have already been 
[ March 3, 1881. 
strongly advised to see all crannies in walls thoroughly closed, so as 
to afford no hiding places to the beetles. Special attention ought 
to be given besides to the base of walls that enter earth. Not only 
these beetles, hut a variety of noxious insects, seek such positions 
during the colder months. It is odd that the last species should 
seem to have a preference for chalky districts. 
The family of the Erirhinidae have received their Greek name 
from their lengthy beaks; amongst these is great variety in form, 
size, and habit. Pissodes Pini is a little Scotch species, having an 
egg- shaped body spotted with brown and gold; this resorts to Pine 
forests, the larva living in the trunks of trees, where it forms 
galleries between the bark and the solid wood. More generally 
diffused are the species of the genus Anthonomus, the larvae belong¬ 
ing to which feed on flowers, as in the instance of the Apple weevil 
(A. pomorum). Less than a ladybird, this Tiny beetle checks the 
development of much promising Apple bloom, the females being 
armed with long ovipositors, by which they deposit eggs within holes 
they bore into the calyx at the season of flowering. One egg is 
placed upon each flower visited. The result may be well described 
in the words of that skilled entomologist the late Edward Newman, 
who says, “ The bud continues to grow like other buds, the perfora¬ 
tion becomes invisible ; by-and-by the egg bursts and out comes a 
little white maggot, which begins to devour the young and tender 
stamens; next to these the style is attacked and eaten down to the 
fruit, the upper part of which is quickly consumed; the maggot is 
then full-fed, it becomes a chrysalis, and lies perfectly still. For a 
few days yet the blossoms preserve their lovely pink colour, and 
then by degrees fade to dingy brown.” When the beetles emerge 
later on they creep, on the approach of winter, under any heaps of 
refuse that may chance to be near the Apple trees. 
In the genus Balaninus, nearly allied to Anthonomus, the beetles 
do not begin their operations quite as soon. Attacking usually the 
nuts of various trees, the females wait until the fruit has fairly set 
and the blossom fallen, when they pierce a hole with the long and 
curved beak. B. nucum is a great frequenter of the Filbert; this 
species is marked with brown and white, hut these colours are 
derived from a down which easily rubs eff, leaving the wing-cases 
black. The white grub of the nut weevil remains in the nut until 
it is full grown, when it nibbles an opening and descends to the 
ground, remaining a pupa through the winter. Hence it has been 
recommended to kill the adult larvae and pupae, by drenching the 
earth under the nut trees with an ammoniacal solution. The downy 
weevil (B. villosus) is even more downy than the preceding; this 
is happily not common with us, for its habit is to pierce the fruit 
of the Cherry in order to reach the stone. 
The weevils that are placed in the family of the Cryptorhyn- 
chidae have a beak bent downwards, and which is at times hidden 
by the insect in a groove upon the under side of the body. This is 
generally globular, and when one of these beetles “tucks in” its 
limbs, as they will, it has a close resemblance to a tiny seed. 
Cryptorhynchus Lapothi burrows in the bark of Willows, occur¬ 
ring frequently in large numbers, but it is considered that the 
injury they do is but small. Others in the family feed upon the 
leaves of Vetches, like the pretty Orobites cyaneus, with dark blue 
polished wing-cases. Notably injurious to grain are the species of 
Sitophilus, which includes the rice and corn weevils, and which 
have in some cases been sifted out of grain by the hundredweight. 
The damage is effected by the larvae, which live within the grain, 
devouring the farina. The two species are nearly alike, but the 
rice weevil (S. oryzae) has four red spots on the wing-cases, which 
are absent in S. granarius. 
The last family of the weevils have been separated by a few 
entomologists on account of their peculiar habits, though they have 
the usual beak (rather short), and also the elbowed antenna:-. As 
they are all feeders upon wood they have received the name of 
Hylesinidie. The best known of the family, and possibly the worst 
enemy of timber that is found amongst the English beetles, is that 
named Scolytus destructor (fig. 40), or occasionally the “Elm-destroy¬ 
ing Scolytus,” from its frequent appearance upon that tree. But it 
by no means confines its attacks to the Elm. This beetle is about 
a third of an inch in length; the thorax is large and punctured, black, 
as is the head, the wing-cases black or brown. The larva has very 
powerful jaws for its size, and a wrinkled body, which enables it 
to push along the grooves that it cuts along the wood. The channel 
made by the parent beetle is carried in for some distance, and after 
the eggs are laid the mother dies on the spot. Larva:, pupae, and 
perfect beetles may he found together towards the end of summer; 
the pupa: buried quite half an inch in the wood, the tunnel being 
blocked with fine particles. Doubtless S. destructor and similar 
beetles often complete the work of destruction commenced by 
caterpillars, such as that of the goat moth, and it is also more than 
probable that trees perfectly healthy are not touched by them. 
Allied to Scolytus is the genus Tomicus, one species in which has 
