144 



Spiienopiiorus ze.e — Walsh. (TheCorn-curculio.) 



This curculio, which was first described by Mr. Walsh, is oblong 

 oval and sub-cylindrical, the length about one-third of an inch ex- 

 clusive of the snout, the width about two-fifths the length. It is of a 

 brownish-black or black color, the punctures being more or less filled 

 with pale yellow or grayish powder ; the thorax having on the mid- 

 dle a diamond-shaped polished space. The snout is about one-third 

 the length of the body and very slender. 



The larva is unknown, but the beetle occasionally does considerable 

 injury to corn by puncturing the young plant near the ground, and 

 riddling it with little holes. They extend their operations even below 

 the surface of the ground. This, as a matter of course, exhausts the 

 plant and causes it to wither and die. lam inclined to think this 

 species will be found most abundant and injurious in moist situa- 

 tions; and Riley remarks that he has found it in great numbers on 

 the lake-beach at Chicago. 



If it should become very troublesome at any time, it is possible 

 that it may be driven off by applications of lime or guano. 



Spec, clxar. Imago. — Color black, often obscured by yellowish matter 

 adhering t") the hollow places, which, however, can be partially wash- 

 ed off. Head finely punctured towards the base, with a large dilated 

 puncture between the eyes above. Snout one-third as long as the 

 body, of uniform diameter, as fine as a stout horse-hair, and curved 

 downwards. Before the middle of the thorax a polished diamond- 

 shaped space, prolonged in a short line in front and in a long line 

 behind ; and on each side of this an irregularly defined polished 

 space somewhat in the form of an inverted Y ; the rest of the thorax 

 occupied by very large punctures, which fade into finer and sparser 

 ones on the polished spaces. Wing-cases with rows of still larger 

 punctures; placed very wide apart in the usual grooves or stria) ; 

 the sutural interstice, that between the second and third stria?, and 

 that between the fourth and fifth stria? wider than the rest, elevated, 

 and occupied by very fine punctures; a small elongate-oval polished 

 spot on the shoulder, and another near the tip of the wing-case. Be- 

 neath, polished, and with punctures as large as those of the thorax. 

 Comes very near Sphenophorus truncatus, Say, but the snout is not "at- 

 tenuated at the tip" and has no "elongated groove at base above;'" and 

 moreover, nothing is said in the description of that species of the 

 very large and conspicuous punctures, found in the elytral stria; of 

 our species." 



Length about three-tenths of an inch exclusive of snout. 



Family SCOLYTID.E. (Short-horned wood-borers. ) 



The insects belonging to this family are distinguished from other 

 tetramerous species by the following characters: The body is short, 

 broad and cylindrical, obtuse before and behind; the head is rounded 

 and sunk rather deeply into the thorax, and is without a snout ; the 

 antenna? short, more or less crooked or bent in the middle, and clubbed 

 or knobbed at the end; the thorax very large, and as wide as the wing- 

 cases; the tarsi simple, not spongy beneath, and the next to the last 



