298 



in the extreme southwest of the country and of this we received in July, 

 1889, specimens from Judge J. F. Wielandy, of Springer, N. Mex., with 

 the statement that they were injuring apples. 



FOOD PLANTS AND RAVAGES. 



The food of the larva consists of the roots of grasses and probably 

 also of other low plants. Whether it also feeds on the rootlets of trees 

 and shrubs has not been definitely ascertained, although the larvte have 

 been found quite numerously around the bases of oak trees near Wash- 

 ington, both by Mr. Koebele and Mr. Schwarz. We found them quite 

 numerous in the sandy low lands of the Merrimac Valley, New Hamp- 

 shire, on cultivated ground, where they must have fed on the roots of 

 various weeds or on those of meadow grass and cultivated rye and 

 maize. It is probable, however, that they occur yet more numerously in 

 unplowed pasture and meadow land than in cultivated fields. 



One peculiarity in the food habits of the larva still remains to be 

 mentioned here, viz, that referred to in our report as U. S. Entomologist 

 for the year 1883 (p. 174): While searching for locust eggs in the in- 

 fested fields at Boscawen, N. H., we repeatedly found the larva of this 

 Macrodactylus feeding on the egg-pods of Caloptemis atlanis. This is 

 certainly a remarkable and exceptional food habit in a plant-feeding 

 larva, but it is paralleled in the common White grub (larva of LacJmos- 

 ternafusca) which we have shown in the first report of the U. S. Entomo- 

 logical Commission (p. 305) to have a similar habit. The habit is doubt- 

 less developed only when the locust eggs are thickly laid in the ground. 



The beetle has a partiality for flowers, but also feeds upon leaves 

 of various trees and bushes and attacks certain fruits. It has a 

 predilection for the flowers of roses, wild as well as cultivated,* and, 

 in the experience of many observers, prefers white roses to red ones. 

 Another favorite food is the blossom of the grape-vine, with a decided 

 preference for that of the Clinton. This last fact was first pointed 

 out by Walsh in his first report on the Insects of Illinois (p. 24), and 

 has been confirmed by many other observers and by our own observa- 

 tions. Dr. Lintner, in his first New York Entomological Beport (p. 

 229), contradicts this experience, whicb only goes to show how the 

 habits of the same species will differ in different sections of the coun- 

 try. Flowers of raspberries and blackberries do not escape its rav- 

 ages. Mr. E. H. Miller states in the American Agriculturist (see 

 Amer. Nat., v. 17, 1883, p. 1291), that the flowers of Deutzia scabra 

 are even preferred by the beetle to the grape-vine. The blossoms of 

 the various species of Spircea are often crowded with the beetles 

 and the same may be said of the blossoms of Sumach, the common 

 Ox-eye Daisy, Magnolia glauca, Mock Orange, and some other plants. 

 This list could be greatly extended, but we close it with the state- 



* The Cinnamon rose, Bosa cinnamonica, is said to enjoy immunity. 



