22 



nowned "lady bugs," kindly looked upon by the whole civilized 

 world as friends of no uncertain color, have also occasional lapses 

 from virtue, when pressed by hunger or actuated by whim. 



The common spotted lady bug is often abundant in corn fields, 

 where, as dissection usually demonstrates, it is in search of the 

 falling pollen of the plant, or of minute fungi which speck the 

 withered leaves, or of the plant lice which infest the foliage, tas- 

 sels, and husks ; but last August, we saw it eating the exposed ker- 

 nels at the tip of the ear, hollowing out their substance, and partly 

 buried in the cavities thus made. 



But it is perhaps fortunate that the lady bugs have the power of 

 sustaining themselves for a time on other than their favorite food, 

 for no one who knows the efficiency of this species as a check on 

 the multiplication of the corn plant louse can fail to yield it gladly 

 the few kernels of corn needed to tide it over a period of danger- 

 ous scarcity of its animal food. 



5. The Brassy Flea Beetle. 

 {CJuetocnema jndicaria, Cr.) 



Order Coleoptera. Family Chrysomelid^^. 



This abundant little flea beetle, one of the commonest and most 

 widely distributed, was twice noticed in young corn during the last 

 season in numbers sufficient to inflict noticeable injury at the time, 

 by riddling the leaves with small holes. 



6. Leaf Hoppers. 



Tettigonid^e. 



Jassus inimicus, Say. 



Cicadula nigrijrons, n. s.* 



Cicod'iila qiiadrilineatus, n. s.* 



Macropsis nohilis. 



Among the various species of leaf hoppers found upon young corn, 

 those above mentioned have occasionally occurred in our experi- 

 ence in sufficient numbers to injure the plant appreciably in June 

 and July. The three species first mentioned are more fully treated 

 under the head of Insects Injurious to Wheat. 



7. Grasshoppers (Acridid.e) in Corn. 



The damage done to Indian corn by the common species of grass- 

 hoppers has been often enough reported, and is known to every 

 one, but the species responsible for it have rarely been precisely 



*See page 63. 



