187 



rncjii that thoy had nearly denuded tf;n rods of willow fence alonj^ a 

 r;orn field, and were then ent/jring the field and eating the young eorn. 



The larvaj are elongaU;, oval, hlaekish, and rough, with nrnall tuber- 

 cles. They emit, when disturbed, along each side, a row of whit/; globules 

 of a vary strongly odorous milky secre- 

 tion. The beetles are more regularly 

 oblong tlian the common lady bug, the 

 black spots of the wing-covers are differ- 

 ent in number and arrangement, and 

 there Is only one large black spot on 

 tFie thorax, iastead of two. 



Ofj coming out of their winter 

 quartxTS the beetles lay their eggs upon 

 the young leaves as they unfold, and 

 the larvai soon hatch and develop 

 rapidly. Several broods are matured 

 in the course of a season. 



Fio. 18.'j. The HfxMfA Willow- 

 beetle, Mel/iHf/m/i l/ij)j)'/nica. Seven 

 Ufftem natural wwji. 



JiUPERODES VARICOUN'IB I>ec. 



(fjuperiXH hrunneuH.) 

 This is a n\)(iCA(tB of southern range 

 — from North Carolina to Kansas, and 



southward. A corn^pondent at Manhattan, KarLsas, wrote to the 

 Arnfrri/Mn Erdryrn/jl/jfjiM* in 1880 thiat the beetle had been f|uite abundant 

 a few years previoasjy, feeding on the silk of sweet corn arjd on holly- 

 hock, but that at the time of writing it had almost disappeared. In 

 1892 it was sent to the U. S. Department of Agriculture from Georgia, 

 where it was apparently doing great damage to cotton blossorrts. It 

 is a small oval. or oblong beetle, about an eighth of an inch long, varying 

 in cr^lor from yellowish to brownish. Its life hlstorj' Is unknown. 



'ill!. liOOT- WORM PJOKTLES. 

 Difj}rrotvxi. 



We have four common species of this genus in Illinois, the larva; 

 of two of which, lorupjyjrnu and 12-jmn/MUi, are serioasly destnictive 

 as corn root-worrrts, and as such have been treated in the Eighteenth 

 Iif;port of this office. A third, the striped cucumber-beetle, is also a 

 serious pest, the larva eating the roots of cucurbitaceous plants. The 

 adults of these and other members of the genus are more varied in their 

 food Iiabits, and several have been known to infest corn. 



JJioJ/roticn tenella occurs only in the extreme Southwest, and is very 

 closely relat*:;d U) our southern corn root-worm. Iri Arizona the beetles 



•Vol. III., p. 77. 



