Leaflets. Nos. 1 to 100 / Board of Agriculure and Fisheries.

  • Great Britain. Board of Agriculture and Fisheries.
Date:
1908
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Leaflets. Nos. 1 to 100 / Board of Agriculure and Fisheries. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    20/488
    Life History.—The life history resembles that of 0. sul- catus. Eggs are laid in the ground and the larvEe feed on roots throughout the summer and autumn until the spring, when they change to whitish pupae with black eyes. The Plum, or Red Legged Weevil. (Otiorhynchus tenehricosus, Herbst.) Description.—In length the plum weevil, so-called because of its apparent partiality for plum foliage, varies consider- ably ; the usual size is about half-an-inch long, but small specimens may be found two-fifths of an inch long. It is black in colour and shiny in appearance ; the wing-cases bear lines of punctures, and in quite fresh specimens some ashy-grey scales ; and the legs are dull red. The eggs are at first white, but in two days become jet black. The larvas are very similar to the two former species. The pupa is pale and brownish-white. Life History.—This weevil is one of the most destructive to the plum, raspberry, strawberry, cherry, apricot, nectarine, and peach in the London district and the South and South- East of England, especially on chalk soils. The beetles strip the shoots of their leaves, destroy the buds, and even attack the bark, while their larvae devour the rootlets and roots of the strawberry, &c. during the winter. Like the two species already mentioned, the plum weevil is mainly nocturnal in habits. The eggs are laid just under the ground ; they hatch in August and September, and the larvae remain feeding upon strawberry and other roots until the following March or April. The pupa is found in an earthen cell, and, as a rule, about 2^ inches beneath the surface of the ground, where it remains from fourteen to twenty-one days. This weevil is apparently double brooded. A closely related species (0. fuscipes^ Walton) also works in a very similar way. The Ivy and Hop Weevil. (Liophlceus nuhilus, Fab.) Description.—The weevil varies considerably in size ; small males occur only one-third of an inch in length, while some females are as much as three-fifths of an inch long. In colour it is black, densely covered with ashy-brown scales; the wing-cases bear small tessellated spots and punctured lines ; and the legs are dark, and rather hairy. Life History.—Several reports of the damage caused to hops by this weevil have been received from growers in Kent. This weevil lives in hedges, on various young trees,