12 



it sinks two thirds or more of its snout into the stalk, and then, 

 slightly rolling- its head from side to side with clock-like regular- 

 ity, it uses its beak as a lever to split the stalk and pry the edges 

 of the slit apart. It pauses from time to time to eat out the soft 

 tissues within, and by moving forward and backward and twisting 

 to the right and left it often hollows out an interior cavity much 

 larger than the surface injur}- would indicate. Then pulling- the 

 head strongly backward with the compressed beak inserted, the 

 stalk is split upward as a boy would split a stick with a knife. In 

 this way a slit an inch long may be made in the stalk of corn, be- 

 neath which all the softer parts have been eaten out. 



Iiijiir'u's ill iSSg. — The following year, 188'), similar and equal- 

 ly serious injuries were done by this beetle in the Piper City dis- 

 trict, according to a letter received from Mr. Montelius under date 

 of May 21. At that time forty acres of corn belonging to Mr. 

 Towers had already been destroyed, while on the place occupied by 

 Mr. Dennis the injur}- done was apparently fully as great as that 

 of the preceding year. 



A letter rccentl}- received from Mr. Montelius, dated August 8, 

 1902, reports that injuries by the swamp-land bill-bugs ceased with 

 the second year, and that nothing has been seen of them during 

 the thirteen years since. The temporary nature of their attack on 

 newly subjugated swamp-lands is thus definitely proven. 



Ohsvrvatioiis on Li fc Hisiory. — Other occupations made it im- 

 possible to return to this place, but late in the season the life his- 

 tory of the species was taken up at Urbana by observations in a 

 swampy field where the club-rush was common. 



July 2, nine speciniens,two of which were copulating, were found 

 in a large sedge, Cypcrus s/riovsus, at the margins of a pond near 

 Urbana. July 16, two eggs and larva* which proved later to be those 

 of this species were discovered by Mr. Marten behind the leaf 

 sheaths and in stems of .S'. furiafi/is. Both were placed from two 

 to four inches above the bulb, the eggs in the softer part of the 

 stalk just inside the hard woody outer layer. One larva brought 

 in on this day had already burrowed irregularly downward for 

 about three inches from the place of its hatching. The following 

 day two more eggs and another larva were found similarly placed. 

 On the 22d of July one of these eggs had hatched and the larva 

 from it had burrowed downward within the stem, and on the 23d 

 two more eggs had hatched. Unfortunately no further progress was 

 made with these specimens, both plant and larva* having died by 

 August 20. 



Julv 22, three more larva^ of this bill-bug were found at Ur- 



