84 



Prairie Farmer for 18G3, and redescribed in the Proceedings Boston 

 8oc. Kat. Hist. (Vol. IX, p. 309), was a synonym of .1. scutellaris 

 Lee, the hitter having been described in 1858 (Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci., 

 Phila., p. 79), thus antedating Walsh's name. In Doctor Dietz's 

 revision of the Anthonomini (Trans. Am. Ent. Soc, Vol. XVIII, 

 1891, p. 191) this point of synonymy is only briefly mentioned on the 

 authority of Le Conte. Until the appearance of the note in Insect 

 Life quoted above, Henshaw, in his Bibliography of Economic 

 Entomology, corrected this synonymy in accordance with Le Conte's 

 views; but in consideration of the facts that Dietz did not see speci- 

 mens of .1. prunicida Walsh, and that many are still in doubt concern- 

 ing the right name to use, some further elucidation of the matter seems 

 desirable. We have therefore asked the opinion of Mr. E. A. 

 Schwarz, custodian of the coleoptera of the National Museum collec- 

 tion. He reports that there is in the museum a specimen in the 

 handwriting of Walsh and from the old Riley collection, labeled 

 'prunicida., which agrees with the description and specimens of scu- 

 tellaris of Le Conte as accepted by systematists. 



Therefore the true name of the plum gouger is Anfhono/nus scu- 

 teUarls Lee. As to Coceotoriis scutcllaris Lee, the name Coccotorus 

 is treated as a subgenus by Dietz. 



Mr. C. F. Baker mentions an Anthonomus scuteUarls reared in 

 great numbers from wild plums in Colorado (Entom. News, Vol. VI, 

 1895, p. 29), which may belong to this same species or to A. hirsutus 

 Bruner, recorded, so far as avc know, only from Nebraska (West 

 Point) and on a single food plant, Prunns piimilo. Hence the note 

 by Bruner in Vol. I, Insect Life, page 89, really refers to his new 

 species, hirsutus, and the figure there used should be continued for 

 scutcUaris in preference to the two figured in Vol. Ill of the same 

 publication, neither of which is quite correct. 



UNUSUAL FOOD PLANTS lOU THE SQUASH LADYBIRD. 



August 2C), 1903, the writer found larva- of K p ihtchna horcalis Fab. 

 about two-thirds grown feeding on leaves of nuiskmelon, beans, and 

 Ambrosia artemisia'folia. These larva^ were kept in separate l)reed- 

 ing cages and reared to maturity. They fed freely on the plants on 

 which they were found, pupated at al)out the same time, and the 

 puj)al period was practically- the same — eight to ten days. 



There was no s(|uash or pumj)kin growing in the fields where these 

 larva- were found and no cucurbit in the field Avhere those on bean 

 and Ambrosia were taken. The nuiskmelon field was separated by 

 shrubbery from the bean field. 



It is, however, extremely doubtful if this species could develop 

 from iigg to adult on any other than cucurbits. — E. S. G. T. 



