424 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1925 



Franklin Sherman reports^" English sparrows as an efficient aid in 

 keeping Harlequin cabbage bugs in check in Robeson County, N. C, 

 and Dr. A. W. Morrill notes that his studies of natural enemies of 

 the conchuela {Pentatoina ligata) " point to the strong probability 

 that birds are the useful agents^ in the reduction of the numbers of 

 the adults." ^^ 



BEETLES (COLEOPTERA). 



For the extensive order of Coleoptera we have records of local 

 control or suppression by liirds, of beetles of nine families compris- 

 ing nearly all of those including seriously destructive species. 

 These will be taken up in order. The Biological Survey has found 

 wireworms or adults of the family Elaterida3 in the stomachs of about 

 170 species of bii'ds, and the value of birds as enemies of these pests 

 has been freely acknowledged by Mr. J. A. Ilyslop, of the Bureau of 

 Entomology, specialist on the family, who sa,ys in his bulletin '- on 

 "Wireworms attacking cei'cal and forage crops," "Prol:>ably the 

 most impoi'ant factor in keej)ing wireworms in check are tlic birds." 



Passing to the family Buj>restida.\ we have an instau'e by Prof. 

 R. A. Cooley, of Montana, of effect-ive depredations by woodpeckers 

 upon larvae of the flat-headed apple-tree borer {Chrysohothrls femo- 

 rafa), and the statement by Dr. T. E. Snyder, of the United States 

 Bureau of Entomology, that woodpecker enemies of the mangrove 

 borer {Chrysohothrls tranqueharica) often obtain a high percentage 

 of the larva) infesting introduced Australian pines in Florida.^^ 



The long-horned wood borers also are attacked by woodpeckers, 

 and the activities of these birds sometimes result in a considerable 

 degree of control of the pests. Mr. Walter N. Hess says of the 

 ribbed pine borer {R/io(/'rHm lineatum) : " Birds, chiefly the wood- 

 peckers, are probably the most important of the predatory enemies. 

 It is not uncommon to find infested trees where these birds have 

 removed from one-half to two-thirds of the larva} and adults during 

 a single winter."'* Mr. Fred E. Brooks has found woodpeckers 

 to be highly effective enemies of the round-headed apple-tree borers. 

 Of the spotted species {Saperda cretata) he sa5^s : 



By far the most effective natural check to the increase of this borer seems to 

 be the woodpeckers. The borers feed in positions easily accessible to these birds 

 and empty burrows are to be found on almost every infested tree, with the 

 marks of the birds around the wounds jiiving unmistakable evidence of the 

 cause of the borer's disappearance. During the present studies every attempt 

 to rear larvaa in unprotected trees met with a loss of all the individuals as 

 u result of woodpecker attack. * * * It seems probable that the spotted 



'MUiIl. N. C. Dept. Agr. 32, No. 7, July, 1011, p. 21. 



" Hull. SG, IT. S. Bur. Ent., 1910, p. 67. 



"Bull. 156, U. S. Dopt. Agr., 191."), p. 25. 



".Totirn. Agr. Research 10, No. 6, Fel)., 1019, p. 101. 



" Mem. ?,:\, Cornell Agr., K.\p. Sta., May, 1920, p. 379. 



