25. es “2 MOL 4 Pe 
ae ane Lae He any 
ee iiss ae ae AT Si, 
- os eke € Os sant 
‘ “ we i tae a. =, 
P ~ 
pairs “4 
in Bulletin 12 of the U. 8. Department of AES Division of En- — 
tomology (1886, p. 44), records an injury to seed corn by this beetle, be 
and figures the beetle and a grain of injured corn. He had previously — 
published the same observation in the “Daily Gate City” of Keokuk, 
Towa, for June 28, 1885, 
Description —Length, 6-8 mm., about three times as long as wide, 
a little depressed. Color black, shining, extensively marked with brown- _ 
ish or reddish yellow; legs, palpi, and base of antenne pale brownish | 
yellow. Head etnirely black, thorax and wing covers widely margined — 
with brownish yellow, the wing covers also narrowly margined on the — 
inner edge, and often in front. Disk of prothorax often more or less 
brownish yellow. Beneath black, the prothorax and tip of abdomen 
more or less brownish or yellowish. Mentum not toothed at middle, | 
antenne with two basal joints smooth. Prothorax a little broader than 
long, much narrowed behind, hind angles rounded, adjacent impressions 
feeble and punctate. Wing covers with distinet scutellar stria, a sin- 
gle hair-bearing puncture on the inner edge of the third interval behind 
the middle. 
Aphodius granarius, Linn.* 
(Plate IL, Fig. 4.) 
The fact that a common small: shining black dung beetle, very — 
abundant in stable manure, where it feeds in part on particles of undi- | 
gested grain, may under favoring conditions transfer its attentions to 
seed corn in the hill, gives oceasion for brief mention of this insect here. 
Our only knowledge of this injury comes from Professor C, H, Fer-— 
nald of the Massachusetts Agricultural College,t who received speci- — 
mens of this beetle from Lancaster, Massachusetts, with the statement 
that they had been found destroying seed corn in the ground before it 
sprouted. 
“This insect,” he says, “has long been known in America, having 
found its way here many years ago from Europe, its native country. 
The different species of Aphodius, while in the larva state, feed in sta- 
ble manure, and if this be used as a fertilizer in the hills these insects 
will emerge at the very place where they can do great damage. They 
are also liable to attack the various kinds of seed grain which have been 
sown on lands where stable manure is used. In this case, however, the 
loss is not so noticeable, since the destruction of a few kernels of wheat 
usually provokes only the remark that ‘it did not come up.? But when 
the manure infested with these beetles is put into hills, and a few 
kernels of seed only put into each, they may be able to destroy the whole 
crop. 
“It is recommended, when these beetles are troublesome, to soak 
the seed in water for a short time, and then after pouring off the water 
* Aphodius lutulentus is sometimes included in lists of corn insects on the 
strensth of the following observation contained in the Report of the Entomologist of 
the U. S. Department of Agriculture for 1881 (p. 65): ' 
“On January 8, J, G. Barlow, Cadet, Washington county, Missouri, sent speci- 
mien of Aphodius lutulentus ehioh had been injuring grains of corn contained in 
‘ow-dune, 
This species may evidently infest corn in the hill under circumstances like those 
given above. 
+ Bull. No. 1, Hatch Experiment Station, Mass. Agr. Coll., p. 8. 
