272 Forty-second Report on the State Museum. [130] 



The Clover-leaf Weevil Destroyed by a Fungus Attack. 



Phytonovius jninctatus (Fabr.) — Entomojyhthora Phytonomi Arthur. 



During the latter part of May, 1885, some larvae were received from 

 Dr. E. L. Sturtevant, which had been taken from the grounds of the 

 New York Agricultural Experiment Station, at Geneva, and had 

 evidently been killed by a fungus attack. The larvae were found 

 attached to, and coiled around, the tij)s of blades of grass, dead, 

 stiffened, shrunken, and partly covered with a whitish fungus. From 

 a careful examination of the larvae, it seemed probable that they were 

 immature forms of the punctured clover-leaf weevil, Phytonomus 

 punctatus. The beetle is shown in Fig. 40, in twice its natural size. 



Other examples of the larvae were received from the same source, on 

 November third, in the same condition with those previously sent. 



fNot being positive of my determination of 

 the species, request was made for living 

 examples, to be sought for buried beneath 

 the surface of the ground, or while feeding at 

 night, but they could not be obtained. Some 

 of the material was, therefore, sent to the 



" "^ -'^ Entomological Division of the Department of 



Fig. 40.— The punctured clover- . . ,, , ttt i • / i 



leaf weevil. Phytonomus PUNC-^g^"ic^lture at Washmgton, where ifc was 



TATus ; dorsal and side views, compared with alcoholic specimens, and 



was fovmd, from the structure and markings of the head of the larva, 



to be, beyond doubt, that of Phytonomus punctatua. 



Dr. Sturtevant having suggested the possibility that the fungus 

 attack may have been the result of the fertilizer used at the station, 

 the fungus was shown to Prof. Peck, the New York State Botanist. 

 It was pronounced by him, in all probability, an undescribed species, 

 allied to the well-known fly-fungus, Empusa muscce. 



On mentioning the above facts to Hon. G. W. Clinton, he expressed 

 his belief that the fungus may have been communicated in the man- 

 ner suggested by Dr. Sturtevant, if fish-remains entered into the 

 composition of the fertilizer, from the fact that a common fungus 

 found infesting fishes is the Saprolegma ferax, which is believed to be 

 but the aquatic form of the Emj)usa muscce. 



The above was communicated to Dr. Sturtevant, with an inquiry of 

 the nature of the fertilizer that had been used. Answer was returned 

 that he had obtained from the manufacturers the formula of its com- 

 position, and that "the nitrogenous material was sui^plied by acidulated 

 Jish-skins, dried ground horse-meat and western blood." 



If, as seems not improbable, the death through fungoid attack of 

 the larva3, may be shown to be the result of the use of the fertilizer, 

 either through the discovery of the same fungus in the fertilizer, or> 



