360 EXPEEIMEISTT STATION" EECOED. 



TiMBEBLAKE (U. S. Dept. Agr., Bur. Ent. Bui. 19, pt. 5, tech. ser., pp. 71-92, 

 figs. 10). — " L. validum, a common parasite of tlie fall webworm (Hyphantria 

 cunea), readily attacks tlie caterpillars of the brown-tail motb, gipsy moth, 

 and rusty vaporer moths [Notolophus antiquus'], and also the tent caterpillar, 

 when placed in confinement with these hosts, but is able to complete its trans- 

 formations in the last species only and even then in but a small percentage of 

 cases. Its larvae seem to be totally unadapted for life in the caterpillars of 

 the 3 former species, and fail to survive the protective reactions of the host, 

 which are visibly manifested by an accumulation of active blood cells or 

 amoebocytes around the larvte, the cast eggshells, and even the eggs themselves. 

 The amoebocytes presumably attack the living eggs and larvte, or at least ulti- 

 mately efface the latter entirely. The same reaction takes i^lace in the case 

 of the tent caterpillar, but a few of the larvse are able to complete their trans- 

 formations. Adaptation here is partially in evidence, and may be due to larval 

 secretions which ward off the protective reactions of the host. . . . 



" During its whole life the larva feeds on blood and lymph and on small 

 solid particles which result from the disintegration of the host's tissues, prob- 

 ably pathologically induced by some larval secretion. There is no evidence to 

 show that such definite organs of the host as the digestive tube and muscular 

 tissue can be consumed by the larva unless they are broken down, inasmuch as 

 the mouth parts of the larva throughout life are essentially sucking. 



" Under artificial conditions the minimum time needed for the development 

 of the insect from the egg to the adult was found to be about 50 days, but the 

 maximum time may be extended many months. Under natural conditions in 

 the Northern States as a parasite of Hyphantria, the females are probably 

 active in parasitizing the cateiTpillars throughout the month of August and the 

 first part of September. The larvae issue from the caterpillars and spin their 

 cocoons during September and the first part of October, but the cocoons always 

 overwinter, and the adults emerge the following summer." 



A bibliography of 10 titles is appended. 



The southern corn root worm in South Carolina (Diabrotica 12-punctata), 

 W. A. Thomas {South CaroUna Sta. Bui. 161, pp. 3-6, pi. i).— This bulletin 

 gives a brief account of the life history and remedial measures for the southern 

 corn root worm, or so-called budworm of corn, based upon observations made 

 by the author in eastern South Carolina while prosecuting studies of the 

 cotton root louse in cooperation with the Bureau of Entomology of this Depart- 

 ment. 



At Marion the first eggs were deposited on March 10 and had hatched by 

 April 2. The larvae had all formed earthen cells in which to pupate, or trans- 

 formed to adult beetles by May 5, and the fully developed beetles had all 

 emerged by May 24. During the winter there is no complete hibernation of the 

 beetles in the vicinity of Marion ; at the approach of severe cold, they find 

 shelter beneath the leaves of weeds in the fields and in other protected places 

 until it becomes warmer, whereupon they again begin feeding. 



The most practical means of controlling this pest is through cultural opera- 

 tions. The planting of corn on low moist bottom lands, to which the pest 

 confines its ravages almost entirely, should be delayed until the larvae have 

 begun to pupate. The approximate dates for planting corn in the various sec- 

 tions of the State in order to escape the injury occasioned are set as May 5 

 for lower South Carolina, May 12 for middle South Carolina, and May 19 for 

 the Piedmont Region. 



Locomotion of the larva of Calosoma sycophanta, A. F. Burgess (Ann. Ent. 

 Soc. Amer., 4 (1911), No. 2, pp. 173-179, pi. 1, figs. 2). — This is a somewhat 



