67 
little about it. Chancing to find a few of them in some plants in 
the garden, the other day, set me to looking about in the neigh- 
boring fields. I find some spots, particularly in old patches, where 
they are pretty bad. In a small field of Mr. Goodrich’s I should 
think three-fourths of the plants were affected, and they are dying 
very fast. In most of the fields examined I found no trace of them, 
but I fear there is danger of their spreading from these infected 
areas and becoming generally destructive again. It is certainly a 
question of great practical importance, to know whether it is likely 
to spread rapidly in the near future, or whether its natural enemies 
—-whatever they may be—are likely to keep it within its present 
bounds. If you can spare the time, I wish you would come down 
and investigate this fellow. In the old fields the beetles have mostly 
left the plants, but in new-set fields I find the insect, in almost all 
stages of development. As we have eighty-five acres in strawberries, 
we are naturally a good deal interested in these matters.’ 
In consequence of this request, I sent one of my assistants, 
Mr. W. H. Garman, to Southern Illinois, with instructions to give 
the whole subject of insect injuries to the strawberry as thorough 
an examination as the season would permit. 
He visited various beds at Cobden, some old and some recently 
planted; examined carefully the large field of Mr. Earle, at Anna, 
and several plantations at Villa Ridge, giving especial attention to 
that of Mr. G. W. Endicott. On his return, he stopped at Centralia 
and searched the plants in the fields of Mr. Webster and Mr. Brun- 
ton. He was in Cobden on the 10th of September, at Anna on the 
16th, and at Centralia on the 23d. In every old bed examined, he 
found the borer present, and often very destructive. Throughout this 
‘whole visit, larve, pup and adult beetles were found in the infested 
beds; many of the latter still pale, having evidently recently trans- 
formed from the pupa state. 
The worst fields were a small one on Mr. Endicott’s place, at 
Villa Ridge, and one on Mr. Brunton’s, at Centralia, both of which 
had been in strawberries for many years, but had lately been aban- 
doned on account of the insect injuries. The new fields of young 
plants likewise contained the borer, some more, some fewer, but 
those most infested were in immediate proximity to old patches or 
near seedling plants which were found to contain the grubs. Even 
crowns which had taken root this summery from plants set new last 
spring, occasionally, but rarely, contained them. The fields exam- 
ined were of about all the varieties now raised in Southern Illinois. 
All seemed equally hable to attack, and many of the plants were 
killed in the worst affected beds. 
I desire to call special attention to the fact that, as late as the 
23d of September, he found the borer present in all stages of larva, 
pupa and beetle, in the fields of Mr. Brunton and Mr. Webster, at 
Centralia. He brought back from the South a number of the plants 
with the borers still in their crowns, and transplanted them to 
boxes of earth, where they were kept for further developments. 
When these plants were examined, a month later, it was found 
that the beetles had all transformed and emerged, eating outward 
at the side of the crown, and were then dead on the ground in the 
