256 FIRST ANNUAL REPORT OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



Dr. Fitch, to whom tlie specimens were referred, in a reply sent to 

 the Country Gentleman, as above cited, determined them as the species 

 described by Mr. Say, in a tract published at New Harmony, Ind., in 

 1S31, under the specific name of vejiatus. Dr. Fitch placed it in the 

 genus Sphenophoms of Schonherr, the term, meaning vjedcje-carrier, 

 being drawn from the shape of the body of these msects, like two 

 wedges having their heads placed together. His attention had been 

 called to the injuries of this insect upon young corn in Washington 

 county, N. Y., in the middle of June of the year 1847. Upon exami- 

 nation, he found it engaged in its nefarious work in the corn-fields of 

 his neighborhood, Avhere he continued to notice its operations until 

 into tlie month of July. It proved to be quite a common insect in this 

 locality, for he had frequently found it around the edges of stones in 

 pastures, under the fallen leaves of groves, and among the dirt in 

 gardens, from the month of March until July. 



Under date of July 24, 1857, Dr. Fitch communicated to the Country 

 Gejitleman that a gentleman from Bainbridge, Chenango county, jST. 

 Y., sent the beetle to him with the following statement : — 



It commences its attack when the blades of corn are only two or three inches 

 long, and before they have unrolled, gnawing holes into them which are scarcely 

 noticed except upon a particular examination, until after the leaves are unrolled 

 and spread apart, when these holes become very obvious and are then mostly long 

 and narrow, having become elongated by the lengthening of the leaf as it grows. 



In a field of seven acres planted May 27th and May 28th, there was 

 not a hill that had escaped these insects ; and an adjoining field, 

 planted a week earlier, was still more seriously injured, whilst a third 

 field, planted a week later, wholly escaped them. 



In the Survey of Onondaga county by Mr. George Geddes {Trails. 

 N. Y. State Agrictd. Soc. for 1859, xix, 1860, pp. 219-352, the follow- 

 ing notice of the species occurs (page 331) : — 



A new enemy to young corn has appeared here within a few years, the Spheno- 

 pJiorus venatus of Say, or the Hunter weevil. This insect eats the leaves of the 

 young plants, and in some cases it has materially injured the crop. This new 

 acquaintance may prove a formidable enemy. 



In 1861, it was again reported from Onondaga county, from the 

 town of Skaneateles, in a communication dated July 1st, as follows : — 



For the first time we are having the corn cut off by this ravenous bug. They 

 are spreading rapidly, and their destructive propensities are about as marked as 

 that of the locust. They first attack the root, girdling it above the seed and up- 

 per (lower ?) roots. This causes the blade to wilt as if eaten by the cut-worm. 

 They then feed on the stalk. 



The above are the only notices that we have found of the beetle at 

 this early period. It is strange that although its injuries received the 



