389 



Probably the adults emerge earlier and feed sparingly on various 

 plants while awaiting their favourite food. 



The only enemy of C. penicellus at present known is a minute 

 Cecidomyiid, which enters the punctures and devours the eggs and 

 perhaps also the small larvae. 



A description of the last instar larva of C. penicellus by Mr. A. G. 

 Boving is appended, and a description of the adult by Blatchley and 

 Leng is quoted. 



Satterthwait (A. F.). U.S. Bur. Entom. Notes on the Habits of 

 Calandra pertivax, Oliv. — Jl. Econ. Entom., Concord., N.H., xiii, 

 no. 3, June 1920, pp. 280-295, 2 plates. 



Sphenophorus (Calandra) pertiyiax, Oliv., is one of the commonest 

 and most widely distributed billbugs in the United States, breeding 

 normally in swamps in the cat-tail weed {Typha latifolia) and in sweet 

 flag (Acoriis caJamus), its economic importance lying in the fact that 

 it sometimes causes considerable destruction among maize plants 

 [R.A.E., A, vii, 379]. The States in which it has been found at 

 various times are enumerated and cover a wide range. Special studies 

 of infestations at Flushing, New York, and in Indiana, Maryland and 

 Missouri, are described in detail. In New York State, pupation 

 invariably occurred in cat- tail stalks, at or near the top of the larval 

 excavation. Adults developed in the swamp as early as 6th September, 

 and in cages as early as 19th August. Many eggs were observed on 

 lOfch August, when pupae also were present, indicating that some 

 might not mature before winter, and explaining the fact that in 

 March 1919. larv^ae, pupae and adults were all present. Tliis long 

 period of ovipodtion avoids the obliteration of a whole colony by any 

 single rise of the water-level. Eggs laid from mid-June to mid-August 

 will probably be placed at every normal water-level, and, if the water 

 should rise only after the last of the eggs have been deposited, 

 tho^e first laid at low water-levels will have had time to mature and the 

 adults escape. Many findings and rearings from the swamps of 

 Indiana, Maryland and Missouri are recorded in detail. The observa- 

 tions show that Typha latifolia is a widely-distributed swamp plant 

 and tliat all cat-tail beds are probably more or less infested with 

 ■S. pertinax. Consequently, they must be regarded as dangerous 

 to maize wherever cat-tail areas are broken for maize planting. Maize 

 so grown frequently reaches 3 or 4 inches in height and then turns 

 yellow. Some stalks die ; others grow, up tardily, too late to make an 

 -ear. 



The many observations and reports studied indicate that during 

 the last two years about 95 per cent, of the insect damage to growing 

 maize plants on or in the vicinity of cat-tail areas is due to *S. pertinax, 

 and in some localities about 90 per cent, of the total damage is due to 

 insects and 10 per cent, to direct water damage. The close proxi- 

 mity of water to the surface of the soil is undoubtedly a disadvantage 

 to maize, delaying the growth during high water-level or during 

 unfavourably cool weather, especially when the maize is only 3 or 4 

 inches high. Incidental to this check in the growth of the plant, the 

 work of any insect will have an intensified deleterious effect. 



