Entomological Xotes. 



309 



Eilej states that in many places in the state of New York, it has 

 been so prevalent as to destroy the crop of clover, entirely destroy- 

 ing the roots, so that the plants pulled out with the greatest ease, 

 and gathered in winrows before the mower. He further states 

 that in searching a number of hours he failed to find a single 

 plant that did not contain more or less of these insects, many of 

 them in large numbers. The insect is a native of Europe, and was 

 doubtless introduced from that country here. It has been known 

 there for many years, and was first described by Muller who was 

 of the opinion that its natural food plant was the clover, and as 

 they do not apparently occasion any perceptible injury until the 

 second year, he concluded that death of the clover at the third 

 year was due to the injury done by these borers. Prof. Riley is 

 also inclined to favor this opinion, from the observations he has 

 made. This seems to be open to question, for the clover was 

 classed among the biennials long before this insect was known 

 either in this country or in Europe. This peculiarity or habit of 

 the clover plant may have been induced by improper culture, or 

 the rigors of the climate, but it has become a fixed characteristic 



of the trifolium pratense. Th( 'act that 

 occasionally plants are seen to live the 

 third season does not disprove the the- 

 ory, for on an examination it will usu- 

 ally, if not always, be found that the 

 old root received some injury the sec- 

 ond season, but had sufficient vitality 

 tothrow out new roots, and thus gain 

 another year's lease of life. 



Prof. Piley, in describing the beetle 

 in its various stages of development, as 

 far as it had come under his observa- 

 tion in this country, says: "It is un- 

 doubtedty true that this beetle flour- 

 ishes most in the roots of plants that 

 have been injured, and that have al- 

 ready begun to decay — bearing out 

 in this respect the well-known habits 



Fig. 10. Clover Root 

 Borer. 



