Sept., igoi.] Webster: Southern Corn-Leaf Beetle. 127 



shining ; dorsopleural membrane whitish ; halteres yellow, knobs brown ; legs yellow, 

 tarsi and the tips of the femora and tibia darker ; abdomen honey yellow, darker 

 posteriorly, with black dots on the lateral margin of each segment which are some- 

 times incompletely connected by brownish stripes ; a brownish spot on the first ster- 

 nite ; eighth tergite somewhat produced and narrowed posteriorly, posterior margin 

 with two tufts of long reddish hair ; hypopygium large, reddish yellow ; posterior 

 margin of upper lamella with a slight median incision, lateral angles produced into 

 short, slender, acute points ; lower lamella with a rather deep incision in which lies a 

 pair of short reddish-brown appendages the tips of which are fringed with long yellow 

 hair ; base of ovipositor honey yellow, shining, valves reddish, upper valves slightly 

 arcuate, long, slender, acute ; lower valves broader, obtuse, reaching beyond the 

 middle of the upper valves ; wings hyaline, subcostal cell and stigma with a slight 

 yellowish tinge ; a very faint scarcely perceptible whitish streak running from in front 

 of the stigma across the base of the discal cell ; discal cell twice as long as wide. 

 Length, male 15 mm., female 18 to 20 mm., wing 17 mm. 



Habitat : Moscow Mt., Idaho, one male, one female. (Type) 

 Doane. Collins, Ida., two males. Piper. Type no. 200, Wash. 

 Agric. Coll. & S. of S. 



THE SOUTHERN CORN-LEAF BEETLE: A NEW 

 INSECT PEST OF GROWING CORN. 



plates vii-ix. 



By F. M. Webster. 



While investigating the habits of the species of Simulium, inhabit- 

 ing the country adjacent to the Mississippi River in Arkansas and 

 Louisiana, early in April, 1887, I observed in a small field of corn, 

 on the old Perkins Plantation, at Somerset Landing, Tensas Parish, 

 Louisiana, a number of beetles, Myochroiis denticollis Say, attacking 

 the young corn. 



They were found, largely, in the soil about the stems of the plants 

 at or very near the surface of the ground, where they seemed to be 

 engaged in gnawing the bases of the outside leaves, and were not 

 then observed to depredate upon the upper portion of the leaves, nor 

 were they at any time observed running over the plants. At the 

 time, however, the corn plants were very small, not having put forth 

 more than three or at most four leaves. No serious injuries were 

 observed at the time, and more pertinent investigations prevented 

 my giving them further attention. I was not then aware of what has 



