2Q'Z FIllST ANNUAL REPORT OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



most auy age in the tap-root. A few individuals work upwards into the first sec- 

 tion of the stalk, hut only, it would seem, after having consumed all available 

 piih below ground. At full growth, the larva will have consumed the pith of the 

 stalk for from four to five inches, dwarfing the stalk, preventing the make of the 

 ear, and causing the lower leaves to turn brown and wither. The larva has the 

 general characters of other described larvae of the genus. The pupae are found in 

 cavities opposite the first suckers, surrounded by excrement compactly pressed so 

 as to form a sort of cell. The beetles make their appearance in the fall (one 

 specimen issued as early as August 30) and hibernate as adults mainly in the 

 stalks (Riley: American Naturalist, xv, 1881, p. 915). 



S. sculptilis has Probably Similar Habits. 

 In view of the above history, it would seem that there can be no 

 longer any doubt of the breeding-place of S'. sculptilis. Its habits and 

 transformations will have to be those of S. robustus, and as soon as 

 opportunity offers for the examination, it may confidently be expected 

 to be discovered placing its eggs in the punctures made by its beak, or 

 that the larva will be found within the roots during the summer, after 

 the injuries of the imago in wounding the young shoots and causing 

 a flow of the young sap, have ceased. Its smaller size (0.30-0.36 inch), 

 compared with that of -S". rohustus (0.48-0.5G inch), might permit of 

 its occupancy of our northern corn without the tangible evidence of 

 its presence as is given in the dwarfed canes and blighted ears of the 

 Southern fields. 



The Larvae Should be Sought for in Corn. 



It is important that the life-history of this species should be satis- 

 factorily completed, by the establishment, through actual observation, 

 of the above habits, which, in consideration of reasons presented, we 

 have deemed it safe to assign to it ; and it will not be difficult to do 

 so. Stalks of corn, where the operations of the beetles have been ob- 

 served in the spring, should be examined after the removal of the corn 

 in the autumn, for the detection of the ^Tupfe, which could easily be 

 found if therein, within their burrows, readily disclosed by sections of 

 the stalks near the roots. If young shoots pierced by the beaks of the 

 beetles in early spring, were carefully examined,* the eggs, if present, 

 should be discoverable at the bottom of the punctures — the wounds, 

 which alone have hitherto attracted attention, being made perhaps 

 quite as much for the deposit of the Qgg^, as for the extraction of the 

 sap. 



The Injuries Perhaps Underestimated. 



Although this corn-curculio has not been generally recognized as a 

 serious pest, and may not be injuj-ious over a wide extent of territory, 

 yet, as it has an extensive distribution, extending from the Atlantic 

 to the States beyond the Mississippi, it is not improbable that it may 



*l would be fjlad to have some of the punctured shoots sent to me for examination. 



