JOURNAL 



OF 



ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGY 



OFFICIAL ORGAN AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGISTS 



Vol. 4 DECEMBER, 1911 No. 6 



NOTES ON THE HOST PLANTS AND PARASITES OF SOME 

 NORTH AMERICAN BRUCHIDiE ^ 



By R. A. CusHMAN, Bureau of Entomology, Washington, D. C. 



For the past four years the author has been closely connected with 

 the work on the parasites of the cotton boll weevil. In connection 

 with this work hundreds of lots of plant material of various kinds, 

 infested by other weevils and bruchids have been collected and sent 

 in to the laboratory of the investigation at Dallas, Texas. In the 

 following pages the information collected on the latter group, as to 

 both the host plants of the various species and their parasites, is 

 brought together. A few other records obtained elsewhere are also 

 included. This group of beetles, at least in breeding habits, approach- 

 ing closely many of the weevils, attracts many of the parasitic enemies 

 of that group. A number of the most important of the parasites of 

 the boll Aveevil have been found to attack bruchids, and for this reason 

 many lots of infested material were collected and placed in breeding 

 cages and the issuing parasites recorded. 



All but two of the bruchid species discussed here breed in the pods 

 of leguminous plants. Plants of this sort are especially abundant 

 and varied in the southern and western portions of Texas, forming a 

 considerable part of a very characteristic flora. In this section of 

 the state most of the leguminous plants are "chapparals" (shrubs 

 or small trees), and occur over wide areas. Their pods furnish the 

 breeding places of many species of this and other groups of insects. 

 In several instances the same lot of pods was found to be infested by 

 two species of Bruchus. In the more humid portions of the state 

 and in the neighboring states to the north and east, the "chapparals" 



I Published by permission of Dr. L. O. Howard, Chief of the Bureau of Entomology. 



