110 



if-a^ 



and liKliaua. In Maryland, in 1897, the first plantings of corn were 

 ruined in parts of six counties. This fiea-beetle seems especially fond 

 of sweet corn, and also injures lirooni-corn and millet. It has been 

 found by us on sorghum in Illinois; we have seen it abundant on oats, 

 blue-grass, and ragweed; and have noticed it on wheat, sugar-beet, and 

 a few other plants. It ranges from the middle Atlantic coast westward 

 to Colorado and Texas. It hibernates as a beetle, and has been found 



destructively numerous from early 

 May to October. Its early stages 

 are unknown. 



The Toothed Flea- 

 beetle. 



ChcEtocnemn denticidaUi 111. 



^ This beetle (Fig. 92) is about 

 a tenth of an inch long, oval, 

 shining bronzed. It feeds prin- 

 cipally on grass and grain, but 

 has done conspicuous injury to 

 corn, and has also noticeably 

 damaged sugar-beets. In the 

 East it has been reported as in- 

 jurious to sweet corn, broom-corn, 

 and millet. We have found the 

 beetles in Illinois on wheat, oats, 

 strawberry, and melon plants. The species is generally distributed over 

 the United States east of the Rocky I\Iountains, and is also reported from 

 Montana, Utah, and California. We have several times found the beetle 

 in winter quarters, the hibernating individuals attacking corn in May 

 and June. The eggs were obtained by Chittenden early in July, but other " 

 stages are as yet unknown. The beetles— doubtless of a new brood- 

 become abundant again in August and September in the latitude of 

 Illinois. 



The Sweet-Potato Flea-beetle. 



Cha'tocnema confinis Cr. 



This common little species has been found by Webster doing con- 

 siderable, though occasional, injury to corn leaves in Indiana and Louisi- 

 ana. It is verv minute (Fig. 98; PI. VII., Fig. 3), about a twentieth 

 of an inch long, blackish bronzed al)0ve, with a distinct flattened 

 thickening or truncation of the front angles of the thorax. The 

 beetles do not eat holes in the leaf of the corn; they simply gnaw out 



Fig. 92. The Toothed Flea-beetle, Claetoc- 

 nema denticulata. Length about one ten:h inch. 



