258 FIRST ANNUAL REPOUT OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



a pin, or larger, aud I found a number last Friday about an inch under ground, 

 hanging to young stalks with much tenacity. When very numerous, every stalk 

 is killed. Some fields two or three years ago were wholly destroyed by this insect. 



Subsequently, less has been heard of the ravages of this insect, and 

 it is probable that the conditions have not continued so favorable for 

 its multiplication. Specimens were sent to me for identification from 

 Chesterfield, Essex county, K Y., under date of May 30, 1879, with 

 the statement that they were proving quite injurious to young corn, 

 operating in the manner as above stated. 



Geographical Distribution. 



Dr. Packard records its occurrence at Hyannis, Mass., June 25, but 

 not as committing serious depredations. It extends westwardly into 

 Kansas (Snow). It is common in Illinois and Missouri, and has been 

 received at the Department of Agriculture at Washington, from Florida 

 and Alabama (Riley). Walsh gives its habitat as " Middle States, 

 Georgia and Kansas," and XJhler, in its original description, "Western 

 and Southern States." 



Thought to Live in Decaying Wood. 



Mr. Walsh had often met with the beetle near Rock Island, 111., in 

 company with several other species of the same genus, in decayed logs, 

 floating in sloughs, and on one occasion he had found it absolutely 

 swarming, in company with five or six other species of the genus, on 

 the lake-beach at Chicago, close to the wood piers at the mouth of the 

 harbor. From its occurring so abundantly in the above situations and 

 from the other localities in the State of New York and elsewhere, 

 where its depredations had been reported, nearly all of which were 

 near lakes and rivers or other bodies of water, Mr. Walsh felt assured 

 that its larvas fed on moist wood, situated in places where it was con- 

 tinually washed by water, and that its great numbers upon the beach 

 at Chicago was explicable by the larvae having lived upon the decay- 

 ing and moist wood of the large piers in the vicinity. He was " per- 

 suaded that this snout-beetle can only annoy the farmers in such situa- 

 tions where there is a large accumulation of decaying drift-wood, etc., 

 in wet places, or at all events, a few miles from such situations." Prof. 

 Riley {Third Missouri Report, p. 59) expresses the same opinion, 

 based upon his belief that " the larva breeds in rotting and moist wood." 



I can see no reason for supposing that the larva of this species should 

 so far depart from what is known of the habits of the family, as to feed 

 upon decaying wood. Westwood says of the Curc7iliouidce, " these 

 insects are entirely herbivorous, some feeding upon leaves, others upon 

 seeds, and some upon the stems of vegetables." Riley asserts (Third 



