April, '17] HAYES: LIGYRUS GIBBOSUS 255 



till the following spring. The beetles are present at lights almost the 

 season through, due to successive overlapping of broods. The grubs 

 feed on manure and other decaying matter but the beetle of L. gihbosus 

 feeds on the roots of various weeds such as Amaranthus and Helianthus 

 and not infrequently noticeably damages crops of sunflowers. An 

 interesting habit of the Ligyrus beetles is that they copulate under 

 ground." 



The foregoing references practically represent the present status of 

 our knowledge of tliis species. 



Related Species and Their Importance 



By far the most important species of this genus is L. rugiceps Lee, 

 known in the Southern States as the "sugar-cane beetle." Titus 

 (1905, p. 7) states that in 1880 many farmers in the South were forced 

 to give up the growing of cane because of this pest. Corn is also 

 liable to injury. Another species, L. tumulosus Burm., has frequently 

 been mentioned (Ballou, 1915, pp. 121-147, et at.) as a pest of maize 

 and cane in the West Indies. L. relictus Say has been reported in the 

 larval stage as injuring the roots of pyrethrum (Smith, 1902, p. 490). 

 Two other North American species, L. laevicollis Bates and L. ruginasus 

 Lee, have, so far as the writer is able to learn, not been cited as of 

 economic importance. 



Distribution 



L. gihbosus, which is widely distributed over the United States, has 

 been found from the Atlantic to the Pacific ocean. This wide range can 

 be, in part, accounted for by the strong flight of the adults. In the 

 collection of the Kansas State Agricultural College, this species is 

 represented from the following Kansas localities: Manhattan, Winfield, 

 Junction City, Onaga, Newton, Leavenworth, Scott City, Hays, Dodge 

 City, Grainfield, and Eldorado. Mr. Warren Knaus, of McPherson, 

 Kansas, has kindly furnished additional Kansas records from speci- 

 mens in his collection, taken in the following counties: Seward, Meade, 

 Wilson, Saline, Rooks, Lincoln, McPherson, Reno, Kiowa, Gray, 

 Finney, Ford, Scott, Lane, and Wallace. 



Food Plants 



The following is a hst of the known food plants of the adult of L. 

 gibhosus: potatoes, sunflowers (wild and cultivated), dahlias, sugar- 

 beets, ambrosia, oak, carrot, corn, cotton, parsnip, celery, and elm. 

 The food plants of the larva are : pigweed, sunflower, wheat, corn, and 

 oats. 



