BRACHYTARSUS VARIEGATUS. DESCRIPTION. I4I 



B. variegatus not a "Wheat Pest. 



It may, therefore, be inferred that the attack upon the wheat above 

 noticed was not by the larva, and that the presence and feeding of the 

 beetle was but accidental. It is known to be quite a general feeder, 

 finding its food in various vegetable substances with which it may 

 chance to be associated. Hence for the present, it will not be necessary 

 to number Brachytarsus variegatus among the insect enemies of the 

 wheat. 



The attack was not a serious one. Upon inquiring of its character, 

 Mr. Gillett informed me, that in looking over the wheat as it lay upon the 

 floor, a perforated kernel could be found in an area the size of his 

 hand, and more than twice as many of the beetles in the same space. 



Description of the Beetle. 



Appended is the original description of the insect as given by Mr. 

 Say, together with his observation of its occurrence upon the smut of 

 wheat, upon which it had probably fed. 



A. variegahis. Varied, with blackish and dull yellowish; elytra, each 

 with -two larger spots.' 



Anlhribu.s variegatus, Melsh. Catal. 



Body dull ochreous, varied with blackish, with very short hair ; liead 

 plane, dusky, paler toward the tip ; antennae moderate, pale rufous, three 

 terminal joints fuscous; thorax much varied with blackish, which does 

 not extend on the anterior margin; elytra with hardly obvious striae, with 

 many small orbicular, blackish spots, and two larger spots on each, of 

 which one is near the sutural base, and the other rather beyond the 

 middle, near the suture; feet pale rufous; thighs blackish in the middle. 



Length more than -^ of an inch. 



The two spots of each elytron are sometimes united by an interven- 

 ing blackish sutural line. 



The species is not uncommon, and I have found it on the " smut " 

 of wheat. Mr. Lea took eighty individuals from six heads of wheat. 



Distribution, 



This insect is generally distributed throughout the Atlantic States, 

 associated with B. limbatus Say, from which the variety (obsoletus) in 

 which the elytral spots are obsolete, may be distinguished by its more 

 slender form. 



