200 THK CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



or twelve days. Unlike the Army Worm, the caterpillars were seldom 

 seen, and never observed actively feeding, and it was believed by the 

 farmers that they fed at night, or by drawing the blades of grass into their 

 subterranean retreats. In two instances the larvse were observed in 

 immense numbers collected on the trunks of trees so that they could have 

 been scooped up by handfuls. The cause of their congregating at these 

 points could not be conjectured ; it was not for feeding on the foliage, for 

 the grasses alone are their natural food. The caterpillars were slender, 

 cylindrical worms, about three-quarters of an inch long, of an obscure 

 greenish color, with shining black heads. They were destitute of lines or 

 other ornamentation, excepting some small, warty spots on their upper 

 side. Early in August the moths began to appear, when they were identi- 

 fied as specimens of Crambics viilgivagelhis, the new enemy proving to be 

 an inconspicuous and hitherto unobtrusive little Crambus. It is quite 

 probable that several accounts of injuries to pasture lands in the New 

 England States during the last three or four years by some unknown 

 depredators are to be credited to this species. 



At a late meeting of our Entomological Society, held in London, one 

 of our members, Mr. J. M. Denton, referred to the injuries which were at 

 that time being inflicted on some pasture lands within a few miles of Lon- 

 don by the larva of the common May Bug, Lachnosteriia fusca, and 

 exhibited specimens of their work. He had found whole fields of pasture 

 land with the roots of the grass so eaten that the turf could be readily 

 lifted with the hand by the yard, and underneath were thousands of these 

 grubs feeding on the remaining fragments of roots. In one instance, near 

 the village of Delaware, a field had been so completely destroyed that the 

 •farmer had set fire to the withered grass with the hope of scorching the 

 enemy to death. As these larvse readily burrow in the ground when dis- 

 turbed, he was advised to adopt a different method and turn his hogs into 

 the field to root amongst the grass and devour the larvse, which they 

 greedily consume in immense numbers. Such wholesale destruction by 

 this insect is not common, but when it does occur it is very alarming. 



In the tenth annual report of the State Entomologist of Illinois, just 

 received, mention is made of a new insect injurious to corn. This is a 

 small beetle closely allied to the common striped Cucumber Beetle, and 

 known to Entomologists under the name of Diabrotica longicorjiis. In 

 Illinois the damage caused by the larva of this insect has been consider 

 able. They are small white worms about half an inch long and very 



