68 PAPERS ON CEREAL AND FORAGE INSECTS. 
planting was made. On the lower depressions of the field (see Pl. TX, 
fig. 1), termed ‘‘swales” in that neighborhood, the corn from this 
planting was either small or missing, the size of the stalks being very 
irregular. In most cases the main stalk was aborted and suckers 
had been thrown up, sometimes a distance of several inches from 
tne original plant. The main stalk was either missing altogether or 
had become so dwarfed and distorted as to be practically worthless. 
(See Pl. IX, fig. 2.) It hes prostrate on the ground, curled and 
twisted, being sometimes almost buried in the loose earth, and the 
beetles were still found attacking the plants. 
RECENT INVESTIGATIONS OF THE BUREAU OF ENTOMOLOGY. 
Reference has already been made in the proper places to the investi- 
gations carried out in Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas by Messrs. Kelly, 
Urbahns, and Parks, of the Bureau of Entomology, and in North 
Carolina by Mr. James A. Hyslop, also an assistant in the bureau. 
On May 23, 1911, we received a communication from Mrs. S. D. 
Jordan, Hertford, N. C., accompanied by specimens of these beetles, 
stating that the insects take possession of and destroy whole fields 
of corn as soon as it comes up. Many farmers had been obliged 
that season to plow and plant their corn for the second time. The 
insects attack the plants by inserting their bill into the stalk near 
the ground, causing the plants to wilt in a few hours. The trouble. 
had been noticed for several years and appeared to be rapidly on 
the increase. Apparently, unless some steps were taken for their 
protection, the farmers in that neighborhood would not be able to 
raise sufficient corn for their own use. Two days later a communica- 
tion was received from Mr. William T. Shannonhouse, from the same 
post office, accompanied by specimens of the bettles. Mr. Shannon- 
house complained that these insects attacked the corn from the time 
it was 3 or 4 inches high until it became 10 inches or a foot in height. 
Then they were found just below the surface of the ground punctur- 
ing the stalk, causing the death of the plant. Mr. Shannonhouse 
called attention to the fact that where corn had followed cotton 
crops no damage was apparent, but where the preceding crop had 
been corn the damage was in many cases very severe, often resulting 
in a total loss of the crop. In cases where the land had been planted 
to corn in alternate years, and during the intervening years to some 
other crop, no difficulty was experienced. The author, together 
with Mr. Vernon King, visited these fields in company with Mr. 
Shannonhouse on June 20 and made a careful examination of them. 
It was found that where cotton had been the previous crop, attack 
by Sphenophorus was hardly noticeable. Larvae were abundant, 
ranging from newly hatched to half-grown, while eggs were being 
deposited on both small, tender plants, and on larger, more mature 

