Ampeloglypter ater Lec.

The grape cane-girdler is a very near relative of the preceding species and has about the same life history. The egg-laying activities of the female practically girdle the shoots, which soon drop (fig. 41). The egg is deposited mostly at the joint next below where the shoot has been cut off. Cutting off and destroying the shoot a few inches below this joint will result in the destruction of the grub feeding on the pith within the shoot.

Ampeloglypter ater Lec.

This beetle is very similar to the last except that it is black in color. Its native food-plant is the Virginia creeper, which it has deserted in West Virginia, and occasionally elsewhere, to attack grape. The species seems to occur generally through the Central and Eastern States.

Life History. The life history is almost identical with that of the preceding species, the habit of the species differing only in the manner of oviposition. The eggs are laid in late May and early June. In laying the egg, the female deposits it in the same manner as does the previous species, and then instead of placing a series of holes in a row she makes them in a ring around the cane, only the first one containing an egg. She then goes to the next joint above and makes a series of holes around it, completely severing it, so that it hangs by a shred and soon drops. The little larva feeds in the pith of the joints on either side of the egg puncture, and these two joints die and drop to the ground. The larva becomes full grown in about a month and changes to a pupa in its burrows soon after the dead section drops, first filling the burrow with little pellets of fibres. Two weeks later the adult beetle emerges, appearing during late summer. The whole life cycle thus requires sixty-five to seventy days. The beetles hibernate over winter.

Ampeloglypter ater Leconte

This small black weevil is generally distributed throughout the Eastern and Western states, where it usually feeds on Virginia creeper. In West Virginia, however, it has recently attracted attention as a minor enemy of the grape.

The beetle emerges from hibernation in May and after inserting its egg in a puncture in a growing grape-cane girdles the branch below the egg and then usually eats off the tip of the branch and one or more of the leaves. These withered tips and leaves sometimes give the vine a decidedly ragged appearance, although the actual injury is not great.

The eggs hatch in about ten days and the white footless grub feeds on the pith, becoming full-grown in July. About this time the infested cane usually breaks off at the first joint below the egg puncture and drops to the ground. Pupation takes place in the cane and the beetles emerge in August.

Ampeloglypter ater LeConte

This insect is not often mentioned in entomological literature, probably for the reason that in the past it seems to have confined its attacks chiefly to the plant known as Virginia Creeper or Five-leaved Ivy, Ampelopsis quinquefolia, and has seemed, therefore, of but little economic importance. In this state it appears now to have developed a preference for the grape. In several localities I have seen grapevines presenting a ragged appearance on account of the dead tips resulting from the insect's attacks, but I have never been able to find either the beetle or evidences of its work on Ampelopsis.

The species cannot now be regarded as a pest of very serious consequence, except in rare instances, but, as it has several times attracted attention as an enemy of the grape in this state during recent years, and as heretofore but little has been known / in regard to its habits, it seems worth while to publish the following notes.

The distribution of the species seems to be quite general throughout the eastern and mid-western sections of the U. S. In 1862 Mr. C. V. Riley, in his First Report on the Noxious Insects of Missouri, mentioned it as forming galls on the common creeper. At about the same time Mr. Benj. D. Walsh had specimens of the insect in his collection in Illinois, marked "Madarus ampelopsis." It was not until the year 1876 that a description of the beetle was published. In that year Dr. John h. LeConte described it in his work on the Rhynchophora of America, and gave to it the name which it still bears. LeConte gives its geographical distribution as "Southern and Western States." Since the description was published the species has received but infrequent and brief notice, but has been recorded as occurring in several states from Missouri to Pennsylvania.

It seems a little strange that in nearly every case where it has been mentioned it has been referred to as a gall-maker on Ampelopsis. As already stated, I have not found it on Ampelopsis in West Virginia, although this plant grows profusely in the localities where the insect has ben observed in greatest abundance. Ampelopsis is nearly related to the grape, however, and if this insect has now given up a once favorite iood for another which it finds more to its liking the case is by no means unique in the history of insect behavior. In 1895 Dr. F. H. Chittenden remarked (Insect Life, Vol. VII, p. 387:) "Species which are known to aflfect Ampelopsis and other genera of the vine family will be found in time on the grape. Of such is Ampeloglypter ater." It now seems that this prediction has come true, even to the extent of the old food plant being abandoned, temporarily at least. The appellation "gall-maker" does not apply to the species as I have found it affecting the grape. The term "girdler," however, is entirely applicable. When the female lays her egg she carries out an elaborate program, one act of which is to girdle the cane below the point where the egg is inserted. The proceeding is an interesting one and is described in detail further along in this publication.

The larva is a footless grub about one-fourth of an inch in length. Like the larva of the gall-maker, it is white with a light-brown head. It feeds in the heart of the cane, eating out a burrow that extends only between the two joints on either side of the place where the egg is laid. The larval stage covers a period of something over a month. In one case I got an exact record of its duration which was thirty-four days.

The cane in which the larva feeds dies back to the first joint below the egg-chamber and drops from the vine in about six or eight weeks after the eggs are deposited. The larva changes to a pupa soon after the dead section of the cane drops