OF WASHINGTON. 339 



Mr. Doran then read a paper by Mr. F. M. Webster on 



FOOD-PLANTS OF THE LIXI. 

 BY F. M. WEBSTER, 



COLUMBUS, OHIO. 



So far as our knowledge of the habits and development of the 

 species of Lixus goes, they seem to be confined in their selection 

 of food to annual plants, several of which, as the bean, beet, cab 

 bage, rhubarb, etc., are cultivated. With regard to European 

 species, we find in P. Bargagli's useful work on the Biology of 

 the European Rhynchophora* a compendium of the food habits of 

 the images and the breeding habits of the larvae. 



Mr. Townend Glover (Rep. Comm. Agric., 1865, p. 90) gives 

 us our first knowledge of the food-habits of our own species, 

 recording the fact of/,, concavus ovipositing in the leafstalks of 

 Rhubarb, Rheum rhaponticum L., at Washington, D. C., 

 although some years ago, in Illinois, I reared this species from 

 wild sunflower, Helianthus grosse-serratus (Entomol. Amer., 

 vol. 5, p. n). Prof. C. M. Weed claims to have reared it also 

 from dock, Rumex, here in Ohio, but the species bred by him is 

 L. mucidus, as determined by Dr. Horn, and it does not appeal- 

 that the former has reared concavus. L. macer has been reared 

 from Helianthus grosse-serratus in Illinois by myself, it having 

 previously been observed in the same State ovipositing in this 

 plant by Mr. Coquillett (Entom. Amer., vol. 5, p. n). Dr. C. 

 V. Riley has reared this species from Chenopodium hybridum 

 in Missouri (Proc. Ent. Soc. Washington, vol. i, p. 33), and 

 he also states that L. parcus forms galls on the stems of 

 Amelanchier in California. 



According to Dr. J. A. Lintner, L. rubellus was observed on 

 two occasions in large numbers clinging to the flowers of Poly- 

 gonum amphibium in a pond in Massachusetts, rendering it 

 probable that this is the food-plant of the imago and larva. This 

 theory is considerably strengthened by the rearing L. musculus 

 from this plant, in southern Michigan, by Dr. D. S. Kellicott, 

 and L. terminalis from stems of Polygonum pennsylvanicum by 

 Prof. Forbes in Illinois (i6th Rep. State Ent. 111., V- 1^}, although 

 the fact is clearly shown that the same species may feed on plants 

 of widely different character, or two different species may breed 

 in the same plant. Quite recently, Mr. D. A. Hopkins, of West 

 Virginia, has reared L. scrobicollis from Ambrosia artemisice- 

 folia and A. irifida {Insect Life, vol. 4, p. 256). 



Tabulating our information on the breeding habits of Lixus, 

 we have the following : 



*Rassegna biologica di Rincofori Europei. Published in Bullet." Soc. 

 Ent. Ital., 1883-1887. *" 



