862 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD, 



definitely reared from at least 7 species of brucliids ranging from New Mexico 

 to tbe District of Columbia, and from many other hosts in stems, fruits, and 

 buds, as well as from the boll weevil throughout the range of that species in 

 the United States?." 



Studies in the biolog'y of the boll weevil in the Mississippi Delta region 

 of Louisiana, R. A. Cushman {Joiir. Econ. Ent., .'i {Id 11), No. J. /*/). ,'/33-.'/ '/<s, 

 fig. 1). — This article is based upon studies conducted by the author at Tallulah, 

 La. Under oviposition the author considers the periodic division of daily 

 oviposition, and the total, daily, and maximum oviposition and oviposition 

 period, and under life cycle the preoviposition period, developmental period, and 

 comparative duration of developmental period in males and females. 



Preliminary report of investigations with the corn billbug-, R. I. Smith 

 (North Carolina 8ta. Rpt. 1911, pp. 51-61, figs. 7). — This is a preliminai-y 

 report of an investigation made of SpJienopJwrus callosus. The investigation 

 was brought about by the unusual amount of daanage caused by tliis beetle in 

 the spring of 1010 in Camden and other coastal counties. 



At Braswell the author found cornfields on June 20, 1910, in which the third 

 planting of corn was being destroyed. Billbugs were also collected on the 

 same trip at Chadbourn, principally in rice fields, and at Lumberton, Proctor- 

 ville, and Elrod, in Robeson County. At all those places the beetles were found 

 ovipositing and breeding in the corn plats, although it is said that practically 

 all previous reports state that the billbugs breed entirely in rice and sedge 

 grasses. 



Seventeen beetles collected June 20 were kept on green corn stalks, in which 

 they continued to oviposit until after September 3, and during the winter in 

 a large glass jar half full of earth, in which they remained buried from 1 to 

 3 or 4 in., except on warm days when 2 or 3 were sometimes seen moving about 

 on the surface. Sixteen were found alive on February 14, 1911, but on March 1 

 all were dead. 



" On July 28, 1910, billbug eggs and larvse were discovered in the stems and 

 roots of elegant nutgrass (Cypcnis flatncomus) in bottom laud at West Raleigh. 

 A few eggs, but no larvae, were found in some young corn plants. During 

 August and September many Sphenophorus larvae, pupae, and adults were col- 

 lected from C. fiavicomus gi'owing in cornfields about West Raleigh." 



The food plants thus far discovered are C. flavicomus, C. strigosus, C. cgliiidri- 

 cus, C. overlaris, and C. csculentiis, as well as rice and corn. It is thought prob- 

 able that many other Cyperus and closely related grasses will be found to serve 

 as food plants. 



A search for the appearance of beetles in spring resulted in the finding of 

 8. venatus on a young corn plant in an upland field on May 2. On May 9, a 

 cornfield was found at St. Pauls, in Robeson County, in which the corn had been 

 replanted. The first planting, according to the owner, had been killed by the 

 billbug, and about 75 per cent of the second planting was also damaged. A 

 search resulted in the discovery of 15 beetles in the course of 1* hours, but no 

 sign of eggs. These beetles were taken to the laboratory, fed on young corn 

 plants, and observed daily for signs of mating and egg laying, but this was not 

 noticed until after May 22, at which time another lot of beetles commenced to 

 oviposit. 



While /Sf. callosns is the species that causes all the damage reported from the 

 eastern counties, so far as the author knows it has never been recorded as 

 feeding on corn in the vicinity of Raleigh. " The observations made this spring 

 seem to indicate that, while the species is quite numerous here, and breeds freely 

 in yellow nutgrass (C. esculentus) in the early summer and, later, in elegant 



