302 



Mr. Popenoe has experimented with beans as m ell as with peas, with 

 the following result : 



Fifty per cent started ; of these, tbree-fiiths might have grown into plants, as the in- 

 jury was restricted to the seed leaves. But the remaining two-fifths were variously 

 mutilated bj- the loss of a part or the whole of the germ or plumule, so that under 

 no circumstances could they have made plants. Here, then, but 30 per cent could 

 have passed the germinating stage, and these, owing to more or less considerable 

 injury to the seed leaves, would probably have made plants of low vigor. In a 

 check lot of perfect beans of the same varieties and in the same numbers, planted 

 alongside, 95 percent germinated. 



The remedies for this insect are the same as for the Pea Weevil, 

 except that keeping the imported seed over two years in tight vessels 

 will be of no avail for the Bean Weevil. Careful experiments with 

 bisulphide of carbon show that in this substance we have an almost 

 perfect remedy for both species.* 



THE OX BOT IN THE UNITED STATES. 



HABITS AND XATURAI. HISTORY OF HYPODERMA LINEATA. 



By C. V. Riley. 



A good deal has been written recently about this insect, both in this, 

 country and Europe, and, as has been intimated in previous numbers 

 of Insect Life, some interesting discoveries have been made, which 

 have materially modified the old conceptions of the life-history and 

 habits of the species. Of first importance is the fact which has been 

 recently developed, namely, that the older Ox Bot-fly, Hypoderma boiHs, 

 hitherto supposed to be the common species of both America and Europe, 

 is in reality either a very rare insect in this country or possibly does not 

 occur here at all. 



THE AMERICAN SPECIES IS HYPODERMA LINEATA. 



The Ox Warble of this country is referable to a distinct species, 

 Rypoderma Uneata Villers. It was first described in 1789 as (Estrns 

 lineatus (Ent. Linn, iii, p. 249). It was subsequently described by Dr. 



* Since this article was prepared, and just as it was being sent to the printer, we 

 received Dr. J. A. Lintner's Seventh Report on the Injurious and other Insects of the 

 State of New York, and find an elaborate article upon the Bean Weevil, covering 

 pages 255 to 279. Dr. Liutuer gives an admirable summary of the previous knowl- 

 edge concerning this insect, overlooking, however, our note of 1882, to whicb we 

 have referred, and adding observations of his own proving successive broods in stored 

 beans and showing the duration of a single generation to be about two months. The 

 article also discusses at length the question of synonymy, into which we have pur- 

 posely not entered in this paper, and although he uses the name Bnichus obsoletns 

 Say at the head of the article, he finally concludes that Bruchus fabce of Fitch should 

 in reality hold unless an earlier European synonymy should be established, as seems 

 probable. This question, however, we will discuss in our next issue. 



