Full Text

Pierce, W.D. 1907. On the biologies of the Rhynchophora of North America. Nebraska State Board of Agriculture Zoological Report (1907): 247-319.

In the place of submitting myself a report for publication this year in the annual volume of the State Board of Agriculture, it has seemed to me appropriate to print a thesis for an advanced degree which was offered by one of the students in this department last year. Mr. Pierce has devoted a long time to the study of the biology, life histories, and activities of the group of weevils which are so numerous in every situation and so destructive to all varieties of plant life. The primary element in meeting their ravages is to secure knowledge of what particular form is at work and in what manner it carries out its devastations, what parts of the food plant are attacked and where the different phases of its life cycle are passed.

Up to the present time there is available no outline which has brought together the work of these animals in complete form, and Mr. Pierce, in making this extensive summary and in incorporating his own valuable researches covering many years of study, has placed at the disposal of the Nebraska people a most valuable summary of the knowledge in this field.

The index to plants will, enable the botanist readily to refer to those forms most likely to occur on any given plant, and this, with the other indices, will facilitate reference to the very extensive data contained in the paper.

HENRY B. WARD.
Zoological Laboratory, The University of Nebraska.