Other formats

    Adobe Portable Document Format file (facsimile images)   TEI XML file   ePub eBook file  

Connect

    mail icontwitter iconBlogspot iconrss icon

The Pamphlet Collection of Sir Robert Stout: Volume 14

The Clover Weevil. Apion Apricans. Herbst

page 68

The Clover Weevil. Apion Apricans. Herbst.

Fig. XXI.

Fig. XXI.

1, Weevil mag.; 2, nat. size; 5, larva mag.; 6, nat. size; 3, pupa mag.; 4, nat. size.

This weevil belongs to the genus Curculionidæ, called Apion because of its pear-like shape, and is included in this report as being very destructive to clover, one of the most important farm crops.

There are two or three different species of Apions all injurious to clover of various kinds, but their economy is practically the same, and the modes of attack and the treatment to be adopted are the same, so that it is only necessary to describe the typical species, viz., the Apion Apricans.

The modus operandi of this insect is to bore into the seeds of clover and eat their contents. Heads of clover may often be seen decaying, looking rusty, and losing the flowers prematurely. Upon investigation they will be found quite devoid of seeds, and small punctures will be found in the calices which contain or have contained the larvæ.

Not only does this Apion do harm in this manner in its larval form, it also eats the leaves of the clover plant in its perfect or weevil shape. Complaints of the clover leaves being eaten by "little black bugs" have been rife in parts of Kent as well as in other counties. Examination was duly made, and it was plain that the sources of the evil were indeed little dark coloured "bugs," Apion weevils. In the same fields they had eaten the clover to a serious extent in patches. It was the second cut, the first cut having been carried for seed. Upon looking at the heads of the seed clover it was found that many of these had not properly page 69 flowered, and showed clear signs of having been pierced by the larvæ of the Apions.