78 



3Ilsslssippl Valley Horticultural Society. 



blance, by the fact that it has no snout or " bill " like the latter. It also tlies 

 readily, while the other is wingless. 



.The genus Paria,* to which this beetle belongs, was first described by Dr. 

 J. L. Leconte,in 1858, in volume 10 of the Proceedings of the Philadelphia Acad- 

 emy, page 86, in the following terms: — 



Fig. 19. Stkawberuy Root Worm {Pari i aterrima, Oliv. 

 H. Garman. 



Adult, magnified 16 diameters. 



" Beetle — Oblong, short, yellowish, or brownish red, varying to black, usu- 

 ally with the ventral segments and three spots in each elytron black; head 

 and thorax slightly punctate, the latter margined; sides slightly rounded ; 

 elytra with deep jDunctures arranged in rows, tvhich are obsolete before the 

 apex; interspaces smooth; L. .12 — .16 in." 



Puria sexnotata is describod as follows : " Oblong, short, yellowish red, ven- 

 tral segments and three spots on each elytron, black; head coarsely punc- 

 tate; thorax margined, sides slightly rounded, sparsely punctate; elytra 

 deeplj' punctate-striate, interstices smooth, striae obsolete before the apex. 

 L. .12 — .16 in." Varieties occur in which the spots on the elytra mentioned 

 above are variously enlarged in breadth until in extreme cases the whole 

 individual is black, with pale legs. 



■•••I have taken in this article that view of the life history of the root-worm which seems to 

 me to be on the whole most probable, although it must be admitted that we have not yet ab- 

 solutely demonstrated that this is not the larva of Colnspis flavida, as stated by Prof. Riley in 

 his second and third reports as State Entomologist of Missouri. It is scarcely worth while in 

 this place to give the reasons pro and con, since the question will be very soon decided by the 

 transformation of the larv;c we are now rearing. 



To whichever species the larva may prove to belong, the reiriedies suggested will be equally 

 applicable. 



