94 JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGY [Vol. 10 



Mr. p. J. Parrott: I do not want to let the opportunity pass 

 without expressing my appreciation for the address which has been 

 given. It certainly is a clear and concise statement of the influences 

 bearing on the response of insects to various elements in their environ- 

 ments. The question of insect behavior is an immense field for study 

 and I am pleased to see the President bring out some accomplishments 

 from studies which were problems of theoretical interest when first 

 initiated. 



Mr. Ernst Gram: This has been a very interesting address and 

 discussion. I would like to make a suggestion in regard to the terms 

 used. It seems that the terms chemotropic, hydrotropic, etc., were 

 taken from the botanists. It might be more consistent to apply the 

 terms chemotaxis, hydrotaxis, etc., in the case of insects. 



President C. Gordon Hewitt: I thank the members of the 

 Association for their appreciative remarks in regard to my endeavor 

 to place this problem before the Association. I only hope that the 

 efforts I have made will result in stimulating us to take a new and 

 broader view of our science. I believe the great danger of economic 

 entomology today is that we are getting down too much to a dead 

 level and are likely to get into a rut. If we do not avoid this a great 

 deal of energy will be lost and we shall be subjecting ourselves to an 

 increasing amount of criticism. 



I will now call for a paper by Mr. R. A. Cooley. 



THE SPINACH CARRION BEETLE 



Silpha bituberosa Lee. 



By R. A. CooLET, Entomologist, Montana Experiment Station, Bozeman, Montana 



The literature of Silpha bituberosa is meager. The insect was 

 described from Kansas in 1859 by John L. Leconte in his "The Coleop- 

 tera of Kansas and Eastern New Mexico" (Smithsonian Contribu- 

 tions to Knowledge, No. 126, page 6). In 1894, Dr. James Fletcher, 

 in his "Report of the Entomologist and Botanist" for the year 1893, 

 briefly discusses the species under the title "Another Vegetarian 

 Carrion Beetle." This is a short account of the occurrence and food 

 plants of the species together with brief notes on the life-history and 

 is the first account of injuries by the insect that can be authenticated. 



Prof. L. Bruner, reporting to Docter Riley on the "Insect injuries 

 in Nebraska during the summer of 1892," in discussing beet insects, 

 page 40, Bulletin 30, Old Series, Division of Entomology, states: 

 "During my visit at Norfolk and while talking with Mr. Huxman 

 relative to Beet Insects in general, he mentioned the fact of the injury 



