4 
Larve or pup have been observed at the roots of corn, wheat, rye, 
millet (Panicum miliaceum and Bromus unioloides), beans, Rud- 
beckia, and sedges of the genera Cyperus and Scirpus. The favorite 
larval food plants are evidently Graminee, including various cereals 
and grasses, and the Cyperacee or sedges.! 
The presence of this root-worm in a field of corn gives origin to the 
loss of the roots, injury varying according to the age of the corn and the 
severity of attack, and somewhat also upon the condition of the weather 
and of the soil infested. Injury is manifested in various ways, from 
the death of a plant to slight retardation in its growth or what is some- 
times termed “‘spindling,’’? or a yellowish and unhealthy look. In 
plants 6 inches or less in height the perforations of the stalk (fig. 1, ¢) 
are characteristic, and usually show just below the surface of the ground. 
This is accompanied by withering of the plant, which is frequently 
killed outright. It is this appearance which has given the insect the 
name of © bud-worm. Quite frequently plants are destroyed almost as 
soon as sprouted. As plants grow, the signs of injury vary according to 
the degree of development. If plants suspected of harboring this 
species are pulled up and shaken over a sheet of cloth or paper, the 
root-worms can be dislodged, and it is not difficult to distinguish them 
>) 
from any other forms of insects to be found in the same locations, with 
the exception of the western corn root-worm, which, however, seldom 
occurs in the same regions. 
LIFE HISTORY. 
This beetle is one of the earliest as well as latest species. About the 
District of Columbia the beetles have been seen abroad by the last week 
in March, and eggs have been obtained from April 18 to May 9. Beetles 
have been seen freely feeding until the middle of November, when the 
flowers which had furnished them with food began to wilt and die. 
Just when the first new generation appears seems not to have been 
-recorded, but several beetles, still immature, have been seen in the 
open by the writer on June 12, others were reared the same day and in 
July, and still others were seen, newly transformed, late in September. 
Although the writer can not speak with positiveness as yet as to the 
number of generations, these indications show the probable production 
of two and perhaps three generations annually in the District of Colum- 
bia, and there is the possibility of four in the insect’s more southern 
range. 
Eggs are laid, as has been stated, at the base of the insect’s food 
plant, and have been observed by the writer to hatch in six and seven 
days in cool May weather. One individual deposited 202 eggs. 
iLarve have been found and reared by the writer from about the roots of 
Jamestown weed (Datura) and pigweed (Amaranthus), and it is not improbable 
that they feed on these plants. 
