Circular No. 78. 



United States Department of Agriculture, 



BUREAU OF ENTOMOLOGY, 



L. O. HOWARD, Entomologist and Chief of Bureau. 



THE SLENDER SEED-CORN UROUND-BEETLE. 



(Clivina impressifrons Lee.) 



By F. M. Webster, 

 In Charge of Cereal and Forage-Plant Insect Investigations. 



The subject of this circular is a small, hard-boclied beetle belong 

 ing to the tribe Scaritini of the family Carabidse or ground beetles 

 The former name is derived from a word which 

 means literally " a scratcher,'' and these beetles have 

 been so designated on account of their widened, flat- 

 tened, and toothed fore legs, adapting them for 

 digging. They are generally believed to be both 

 carnivorous and predaceous. About 220 species of 

 this genus have been described, principally from the 

 Tropics; of these some 22 inhabit America north of 

 Mexico, while 18 of these 22 are known to occur in 

 Louisiana and Texas. Clivina planicollis Lee, one of 

 this number, is known also from Mexico, and 

 C. impress! frons. here discust, extends its range 

 northward to Nebraska, northern Illinois, Michigan, 

 and New York. 



DESCRIPTION OF THE INSECT. 



The fully matured beetle is entirely of a reddish color and about 

 one-fourth of an inch long (0.5 nun.), the shape of the body being as 

 shown in figure 1. It may be recognized by the aid of the following 

 brief technical description : 



The lateral margin of the thorax attains the basal margin, middle tibiae with 

 a spur on the outer side near the tip: anterior femora not dentate, thickened; 

 paronychium elongated ; vertex sulcate, head smooth, punctured behind, verti- 

 cal groove deep and long. 



12736— No. 78—06 M 



Fig. 1.— Clivina im- 

 pressifrons: Adult 

 or beetle. En- 

 larged (original). 



