109 
. 
cut while green. The drying of the stems results in the crushing and 
distortion of the eggs, due to the shrinkage of the plant tissues and to 
the curling of the edges of the sheaths. 
Stictocephala festina Say.—Another leaf-hopper, was sent in abund- 
ance to this office by Mr. Thos. I. Todd, Athens, Ga., October 2, 1899, 
with the accompanying statement that they were affecting Lima beans, 
and that they were not noticed before August of that year. Our corre- 
spondent stated that this insect caused the vines which it infested ‘to 
shed their leaves, after which the stems dried, the vine finally being 
killed. The method of injury by suction was noticed. 
The species is one of wide distribution, but little appears to have 
been published concerning its habits. There is at least one record of 
injury, however, that published in Insect Life in 1888 (p. 50), which 
has reference to damage to young tomato plants at Wilmington Island, 
Ga., in April and May, 1887. Injury is described as being due to the 
insect ‘‘ringing” the stem, causing the plant to wilt. The recorded 
distribution includes territory from Connecticut in the North and East 
to Florida and Texas in the South, and in the West to Colorado and 
Montana. 
The Bean Aphis (Aphis rumicis Linn.)—This well-known species, 
which is common to this country and to Europe, having evidently been 
introduced from the Old World, has been noticed during the past four 
years in most patches or fields of bean and cowpea examined, being 
especially abundant upon the latter crop plant. 
During 1899 and 1900 it was present on Lima bean, in sufficient 
numbers to attract rather general notice particularly at Marshall Hall 
and Cabin John, Md., and St. Elmo and Alexandria, Va. It is par- 
ticularly noticeable on the last-mentioned plant from its habit of con- 
eregating on the terminal leaves and flower heads and about the stems 
of the pods. 
The species has been the subject of considerable study by different 
economic writers, including Fitch, who has given it extended notice 
in his thirteenth report on noxious and beneficial insects of New York 
(1869, pp. 495-512), and Messrs. Osborn and Sirrine (Bul. No. 23, Ia. 
Agr. Coll. Expt. Sta., 1893, pp. 901-905). In the article last cited, which 
is entitled ** Life history of a common plant-louse (Aphis rumicis L.),” 
a good account of the life cycle of the species is given as observed 
at Ames, Ia., and, as this locality is not particularly different, zoo- 
logically and geographically speaking, from the District of Columbia, 
no special study has been given the species by the writer. 
Wireworms.—Leguminous crops do not appear to be much affected 
by wireworms. No doubt the insects are frequently present, but 
injury is seldom apparent. There is one, however, that has been 
identified with attack on bean. This is a common species, particu- 
larly southward, and known as J/onocrepidius vespertinus Fab. 
