382 



THE SUNFLOWER A FOOD PLANT OF RHODOB^NUS 13-PUNCTATUS, 



In vol. 1, No. 6, p. 198, of Insect Life, under the bead of "The Food- 

 liabits of Korth American Calandridie," only Xanthmm strumarium, 

 Ambrosia, and Thistle are given as food plants of this beetle. I found 

 the larva of this species burrowing in the pith of the common garden 

 Sunflower on August 21. There was a hole through the woody walls 

 covering the pith, but whether bored from within or from without 1 

 could not determine, but suppose it must of necessity have been exca 

 vated from within, as it was located some distance from the ground. 

 The larva, still within its burrow, was placed in a small box and the 

 adult beetle found therein on September 8th, following. — F. M.Webster. 



PXERIS RAP^ and PROTODICE in COLORADO. 



We notice that Professor Cassidy, in a late bulletin of the Colorado 

 Experiment Station, says that the Southern Cabbage-butterfly {Pieris 

 protodice) is the most injorious of the Cabbage butterflies in Colorado, 

 mentioning also P. oleracea, Plusia hrassicw, and C er arnica picta, but 

 leaving P. raixc entirely out of consideration. Scudder, in his paper 

 on the introduction and spread of P. rapw in North America, gives the 

 year 1886 as the date of its introduction into Colorado. A dozen speci- 

 mens were taken by Mr. David Bruce in the viciuitj' of Denver between 

 August and October of that year. Inasmuch as rapw usually practi- 

 cally replaces protodice in a year or so after its introduction, it seems 

 rather remarkable that now in 18^9, three years afterwards, protodice 

 should still be the most injurious species in the State, and that in an 

 account of this kind rap(e should not even be mentioned. 



LIGYRUS GIBBOSUS INJURING CARROTS IN INDIANA. 



On September 5, a plat of Carrots on the grounds of the Indiana 

 Experiment Station was examined and the roots of the plants, from the 

 surface of the ground downward to the depth of 2 or 3 inches, were 

 found to have been gnawed, the cavities thus formed being large, irreg- 

 ular, and seldom extending inward beyond the cortical. 



Further investigation revealed the depredators to be the adult beetles 

 of this species, usually two and sometimes four being found about one 

 plant, although comparatively few plants were aflected, and the depre- 

 dators were not very abundant. The injuries continued during the re- 

 mainder of the month and October, but up to the Gth of December, 

 when we left for Australia, we had not succeeded in securing eggs or 

 witnessing oviposition, although both sexes of the beetles had been 

 kept about potted plants. The crop was not seriously damaged, owing, 

 no doubt, to the limited number of beetles. 



The only other recorded notices of the degtructive habits of this spe- 

 cies are to be found in the Report of the Commissioner of Agriculture 

 for 1880, p. 274, where the beetles are accused of destroying the garden 



