52 



Till': CoKN Hill-hugs. 



Sphcnopliorus parvulust (iyll. 

 S. venatus Sa3^ (N. pldcidus.) 

 S. ochre us Lee. 

 S. pert max OH v. 

 iS;. cariosus Oliv. 

 S. scoparius Horn. 

 <S. scidptilis Uhl. 

 »S. rohusliifi Horn. 



(Plate in.) 



The corn " bill-bugs " are snout-beetles of various size and color 

 (see PI. HI, and Fig. 27 to 34), but averaging rather large,' the majority 

 of thcni dull black, with the siuiace nuich niark(Ml with small pits and 

 narrow grooves. In form they are somewhat irregularly oval, with thick 

 bodies, rounded above and beneath, and with rather long and thick 

 " snouts " or " beaks " of medimn length, curving downward from the 

 front of the head. This so-called snout is really a ])art of the head itself, 

 and bears always at its tip a pair of minute jaws or mandibles, used in 

 taking in food. The beetles injure and often kill young corn in spring 

 by thrusting the beak into the stem of the plant near its base and eating 

 out the inner tissue beneath the point of ])uncture. Their presence in 

 the field is very soon made manifest by the appearance of circular or 

 ol^long holes running in rows across the blade of the leaf, each row result- 

 ing from a single thrust of the beak when the leaves were closely rolled 

 together in the young ])lant. (See PI. III.) The injury done varies 

 from insignificance up to complete destruction of practically every })lant 

 in several acres of corn and for two or three successive plantings. 



The larvse of these beetles (See PI. Ill, and Fig. 26) are rarely found in 

 corn fields except in some of the Southern States, where one of the sjiecies, 

 robustus, may live as a larva in the pith of the stalk. The others feed in 

 the larval stage, so far as known, uj^on the bulbous roots of grasses, 

 sedges, and the like, or, in the smaller 

 species, upon the fibrous roots of the 

 smaller grasses. These larvse are thick- 

 bodied, oval, footless grubs, with hard, 

 brown or blackish heads, the first seg- 

 ment behind the head being leathery 

 and smooth and slightly tinged with 

 brown. They are most frequently 

 seen imbedded in the root-bulbs of 

 timothy, or, in swampy situations, in 

 the thick root-bulbs of the connuon 

 reed, the club-rush, and other very coarse sedges and swamp grasses. 



Vie. 20. The Corn Bill-bug {Sphenopho- 

 rus ochreus). larva, side view. Greatly en- 

 larged. 



