51 



farm the chrysalids were found dead and decaying in the burrows in the stalks. A dead 

 larva was also found some distance above ground in a stalk. More dead pupa? than live 

 ones were found, and probably this is the result of irrigation, which makes it too damp 

 for the pupa- lodged in the roots and engenders disease. 



In discussing the paper Mr. Weed said that this insect damaged corn to some slight 

 extent in Mississippi, and considerably more so in Louisiana. 



Mr. Howard said that this species is spreading northward rapidly through the 

 Southern states and has reached the southern border of Maryland, but that it is not a 

 pest to be feared with the methods of careful cultivation in vogue at the north. 



A NOTE ON THE WHITE GRUB OF ALLORHINA. 



BY C. H. TYLER TOWNSEND, LAS CRUCES, N. MEX. 



On the 30th of April, 1891, I had a spot of ground on Judge Wood's place, rear 

 Mesilla, dug into for white grubs. The particular spot dug into was selected- because white 

 grubs had been found in it before, although I was assured by Judge Wood that not a par- 

 ticle of vegetation, not even a weed, had grow a on it for at least three years, and probably 

 four. It was a bare spot in the back yard, and by digging over a square foot or two of 

 ground sixteen grubs were secured, at from six to ten inches below the surface. These 

 grubs were all about the same size, and apparently nearly full grown. The ground con- 

 tained no roots of any kind, but their food habits in this barren soil were explained in 

 this manner : They were left over night in a tin can in earth in which was also placed 

 an elongate white larva about an inch and a half long that had been found in the earth 

 at the same time with the grubs. The next morning nothing but the caudal extremity 

 of this larva could be found ; the white grubs had devoured it. If this carnivorous habit 

 is known of AllorJtma I am not aware of it. I know that some other Scarabaeid larviB 

 have been found occasionly carnivorous. But Allorhina I had supposed lived only on 

 roots of grass or other plants. 



There is no complaint in this country of injury to roots of alfalfa or grasses by white 

 grubs, jet the adults swarm in the summer and destroy much fruit, and the ground is 

 full of their grubs. 



Ten of the above grubs were placed in ajar of earth to breed. On July 24th, 1891 

 two imagos of A. nitida were found in the jar on the surface of the earth. 



Mr.Alwood stated that he had bred a dipterous parasite from the adult of Allorhina 

 nitida. 



Mr. Marlatt thought that this instance of Mr. Townsend's was interesting, but that 

 it proved no general habit. He considered that the ground was probably rich in vege- 

 table matter so as to afford food for the white grubs. 



Mr. Smith thought that it would be interesting to know what the other larva 

 fed on. 



Mr. Popenoe expressed himself as surprised at the extreme south-western distribution 

 of the species. 



Mr. Marlatt then read a third paper by Mr. Townsend. 



NOTES OF INTEREST. 



BY C. H. TYLER TOWNSEND, LAS CRUCES, N. MEX. 



A specimen of the Colorado Potato-beetle {Doryphora 10-lineata) was taken Julv 

 12th, 1891, on our common wild purple-tiowered Solarium here. It is the only specimen 

 I have seen here. 



