254 FIRST ANNUAL REPORT OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



S. zece. Riley : Third Rept. Ins. Mo., 1871. p. 59, f. 22, 



S. zem. Horn : in Proc Amer Philosopb. Soc, xiii 1S73, p 423, and on p. 424 as 



S. sculptilis. 

 S. sculptilis Le Conte : in Proc. Amer. Pbilosoph. Soc. xv, 1876, p. 425. 

 S. sculptilis. Snow . in Trans. Kans. Acad. Sci., v, 1877, p. 39. 

 S. zece. LiNTNER : in Count. Gent., xliv, 1879 p. 439 , in 39tli Ann. Rept. N. Y, 



St. Agricul. Soc. for 1879, (1880), pp. 46-48. figs, a b. c. 

 S. zece. COMSTOCK: in Ann. Rept Commis. Agricul for 1879. (1880), p 248; Id 



for 1880, (1881). pp. 272, 273. 

 S. zece. Harrington • in Ann. Rept. Ent. Soc. Ontario for 1880, (1881). p- 56, 



f. 42. 

 S. sculptilis. Austin : Supp. to Ch List Uoleop. N Amer , 1880, p. 54. uo. 9437. 

 S. sculptilis . Riley in Amer. Naturalist, xv, 1881, p 915; in Rept Commis. 



Agriculture for 1881 and 1882, (1882), p. 139. 



During the latter part of June, a number of snout-beetles {Curcu- 

 lionidce) were sent to me from Bordentown, New Jersey, with the 

 statement that they were proving a serious annoyance to corn fields m 

 that vicinity. Their operations were conducted in secret, being below 

 the surface of the ground. Upon removing some of the earth from 

 around the young shoots of corn whicn were wilting and dying, from 

 three to five of the beetles would be found, it was stated, as the cause 

 of the injury, clinging to the shoots that they had punctured with 

 their beaks, and from which they were extracting the juices. They 

 were regarded as a greater evil than the common cut-worms, as they 

 continued their ravages later, even until after the middle of June. 



Diflferent Names of the Insect. 



The beetles, upon examination, were found to be a species that had 

 been brought to notice several years ago by Mr. B. D. Walsh,* as a 

 corn depredator, and under the belief that it was not previously known, 

 it was named from its food-plant and described by him in the Practi- 

 cal Entomologist, as ixbOYQ cited, a,s SphenopJtoi'us zecB ; but after it had 

 been noticed by several writers under this name, as in the above refer- 

 ences, it was discovered that it had been previously described by Mr. 

 P. E. Uhler, under the name of Sph&nophorus sctilptihs, by which 

 designation it is now known. 



Examples of the species are in the collection of the N. Y. State 

 Agricultural Society, placed therein and labeled by Dr. Fitch, probably 

 about twenty-five years ago, as '' S'phenojjhorus venata — the liuntcr 

 weevil." As the examples are unmistakably identical with IS. sculptilis, 

 their naming must be regarded as an erroneous identification with the 

 S. venatus of Say, which Dr. Horn regards as synonymous with S. 

 placidus, S. rectns and S. imiaunis. These four forms were all de- 



*Later, examples identical with them aud Laving an earlier history were founa by uie m 

 the State Agricultural Society collection, as mentioned. 



