26 



THE AMERICAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



Desmoines River Valley, the heaviest tim- 

 bered portion of the State ; the next brood 

 (V) along the Mississippi River in the 

 northeastern part of the State, and finally 

 the third in the southwest corner of the 

 State toward the Missouri River. 



VEGET.A.L-FEEDING GrOUND-BEETLES. 



From the Deutsche Entomologischc Zeit- 

 schrift (1879, p. 417) we learn that Bcmbi- 

 dium lampros and monticola have proved 

 injurious to forests in Upper Austria. In 

 beds where young trees are raised and 

 which are covered with dry twigs these 

 beetles gnaw and destroy the yo;ing plants 

 near the surface. In the beds not covered 

 they do less damage. This is simply con- 

 firmatory of the exceptional plant-feeding 

 habits of members of a family essentially 

 carnivorous. Zahrus gibbus has long been 

 charged in Europe with injuring wheat, 

 and we have been struck lately with some 

 original observations on the food-habits of 

 beetles communicated by Mr. F. M. Web- 

 ster to the Prairie Farmer. He charges 

 certain species of the genus Harpalus with 

 preying upon vegetation and more recently 

 accuses Aiiisodactylus sericeu.s Harris of be- 

 ing particularly fond of the unripe seeds 

 of some grasses, especially of Poa pratensis 

 and Agrosiis vulgaris. The Amara angus- 

 tata Say he also found especially abund- 

 ant on June grass. But still more inter- 

 esting as corroborating the reports now 

 coming from Germany is the statement of 

 a Mr. Mathae of Marshaltown, Iowa, that 

 certain grubs did serious injury to his ever- 

 greens by eating and severing the roots, 

 which grubs were subsequently determined 

 by Prof. Thomas as the larvae of some spe- 

 cies of Harpalus, Mr. Mathae being quoted 

 as a careful observer. 



The Pear-leaf Blister. — Prof. T. J. 

 Burrill of the Illinois Industrial Univer- 

 sity, gives, in the January number of that 

 excellent journal, the Gardener's Monthly, 

 an account of the mite which produces a 

 wide-spread disease of the Pear-leaf. He 

 takes it to be identical with the Typhlodro- 



7nus pyri of Europe, which similarly works 

 on Pear-leaves, and he looks upon it as 

 another of the many scourges we have in- 

 troduced from Europe. It is a four-legged 

 mite which most naturalists have assumed 

 to be a larval form, though Prof. Burrill 

 gives reasons for believing it a perfect 

 form. Measuring only .005 of an inch in 

 length it has been very generally overlooked 

 by naturalists. There are very many of 

 these minute creatures, belonging mostly 

 to the genus Phytoptus, concerned in the 

 leaf diseases of most of our trees and shrubs, 

 and their habits and development offer a 

 most interesting field for study to any one 

 who will give them special attention. 



Fuller's Rose-beetle in California. 



— It appears from the Pacific Rural Press 



(January loth, 1880) that this beetle [Ara- 



?nigus Pulleri Horn) which we have recently 



treated of in our report to the Department 



of Agriculture and which is so troublesome 



to our florists, is also destructive to several 



shrubs on the Pacific coast, among them 



Dracffinas, Orange, Cape Jassemine and 



Achyranthus, feeding upon them outdoors. 



The work of the beetle only is referred to, 



though in the green-houses the larva does 



most injury by working upon the root. 



The species was determined by Prof. Com- 



stock. 



*— • 



Lepidium vs. Bed-bugs. — S. M., by which 

 initials we think to recognize the genial 

 Samuel Miller of Bluffton, Missouri, refers 

 in the Gardener's Alonthly to the peculiar 

 property of Lepidium or Pepper-grass as a 

 Bed-bug destroyer. The Acanthus seems 

 to be attracted by the plant and killed, 

 presumably by feeding upon it. Unfortu- 

 nately the particular species of Lepidium is 

 not determined. 



Aniseed and Grain Weevils. — The 

 French agricultural journals report an in- 

 stance where grain weevils were attracted 

 to a tub of aniseed, all leaving the grain 

 bin and going to the aniseed, which killed 

 them soon after they came in contact 

 with it. 



