270 THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



latus, C. cisteioides, Pterostichus madidus and P. vulgaris occasionally 

 injurious to cultivated crops. 



In our own country, Omoplwoji labiatitm has long been known as 

 injuring young corn in the Southern States. Mr. Townend Glover, the 

 first United States Entomologist, as early as 1863, stated that he had 

 observed Hai-palns caliginosiis, in two instances mounted high on grass, 

 apparently feeding on the seeds. (Rep. Coram. Agr., 1863, pp. 565-6.) 

 For several years prior to 1879 ^l"'^ writer had observed both this species 

 and Harpalus p 67171 sylv aniens feeding upon the seeds of the common rag- 

 weed, A7>ibrosia artemisicefolia, and the latter species was also observed 

 feeding on a kernel of wheat, seeds of timothy and seeds of panic grass, 

 Pa7iicu77i crus-galli, tearing the latter out from the heads. (Prairie 

 Farmer, Nov. 15, 1S79.) In a later issue of the same publication, I also 

 gave an account of the seed-eating habit oi Anisodadyhis sericeus, which 

 squeezes out the immature seeds oi Poa p7-ate7isis and devours them. In 

 1880 the writer also recorded the fact of Harpahis he7-bivagus feeding on 

 the young shoots of Poa p7-ate7isis in early spring. (Am. Ent. N.S., Vol. i, 

 p. 173.) During the same year, and in the same publication (p. 251), 

 Prof. William Trelease also recorded the fact of Ha7pahis caligi7iosiis 

 feeding on the seed of A77ibrosia arte7/iisicefolia^ while on p- 277 of the 

 same publication, Mr. Wm. A. Buckhout stated that he had observed the 

 insect, in 1876, feeding on what he at the time supposed to be the pollen 

 of the staminate flowers as well as upon the seeds. Recently, Dr. Howard 

 wrote me that Mr. F. H. Chittenden had observed hundreds of these 

 beetles at the same time feeding upon the seeds of this same species of 

 plant. Nearly or quite all of these observations on the Ha7pahis 

 caHgi7iosus feeding on Ambrosia seeds were made in September, at a time 

 when the newly-developed adults are probably near the beginning of their 

 career, as we usually find them hibernating in cells in the ground at the 

 depth of several inches, and hence this is only a clue to their food habits 

 during a particular period, and while they may and do feed largely upon 

 the seeds of this weed at that lime, they can hardly be said to favour 

 phytophagous food at other times of the year. 



In 1882, microscopic examinations of the alimentary canal in a large 

 number of Carabidje, carried on by Prof. S. A. Forbes, the material for 

 which had been collected by the writer, in most instances the beetles 

 having been captured under circumstances that would lead to a suspicion 

 of vegetable feeding, revealed the fact that a considerable percentage of 



