REPORT OP THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 249 



The field in wliicli tliey appeared is meadow aadha8 Tjeen in meadow thirteen years, 

 was broken up this spring. It is dry land, sufficiently rolling to drain well. There 

 js no stream of water near and no swamp lands in the neighborhood. The insects 

 show no disposition to travel and hare done no damage on adjoining farms. I hear 

 of one locality in Boone County where they have appeared on clover soil broke this 

 spiing and planted to corn. 



This, it seems to us, quite conclusively refutes "Walsh's inference, as 

 it is evident that there is no neighboring stream or swamp ; and did the 

 beetles come from a distant water-course, neighboring formers would 

 also have been troubled. With so slight a knowledge of the insect's life 

 history it is impossible to suggest remedies. 



The hmehicated snout beetle [Epicaerus imhricatiis Say) [Plate VI, 

 fig. 2]. — This variable insect has been developing new habits the past sea- 

 son in the State of Tennessee. Riley, in his third Missouri report, states 

 that it does considerable injury to apple and cherry trees and gooseberry 

 bushes by gnawing the twigs and fruit. Its injuries have been confined 

 almost exclusively to the country west of the Mississippi or the States 

 of Missouri, Kansas, and Iowa. 



This year, however, specimens were received on the 1st of June from 

 Mr. C. W. Hicks, of Madisonville, Monroe County, Tennessee, the east- 

 ernmost part of the State, with the remark that they were injuring onions. 

 Onion stalks accompanied the specimens and were riddled with holes 

 gnawed by the beetles. Later the same gentleman forwarded to the 

 department a letter from IMr. Thomas G. Boyd, seedsman, of Sweetwater, 

 Monroe County, who stated that he had a field of two acres of onions, 

 and one-fourth of the crop was ruined by this insect. He also stated 

 that the beetles made their appearance on aU his early vegetables as 

 fast as they came up ; he first noticed them upon his onions in February. 

 They destroyed radishes^ cahhage^ beans, watermelons, muslcmelons, en- 

 cumbers, squashes, corn, and beets. Pease, parsnips, carrots, and tomatoes 

 were not touched. Many of the kitchen gardens in the vicinity were 

 also infested by the same insect. Mr. Boyd's method of dealing with 

 them was by hand-picking. In this way, though at a considerable ex- 

 pense, he managed to save several of the leading varieties of vegetables. 



The early history of this insect is not known at all, and until it is 

 known it will, of course, be impossible to recommend any other remedy 

 than that which Mr. Boyd has already tried, namely, hand-picking. 



From this remarkable occurrence on so many new food plants so far 

 east, this insect becomes of the first importance, and the eastern market- 

 gardeners may ere long have a new foe to contend with. 



The sweet potato root boeer {Cylas formicarius, Olivier). — 

 Specimens of this insect in the adult state were received from J. W. 

 Curry, of Manatee, Fla., July 8, 1878, with the statement that it "seems 

 to threaten the destruction of the sweet-potato crop of this county." 

 Mr. Curry was unable to give details respecting the habits of the in- 

 sect, as he received the specimens from a planter residing some distance 

 from Manatee. February 20, 1880, I visited the locality in question, 

 hoping to be able to make a thorough study of the pest. But I found 

 that Mr. Gillett, the planter referred to above, had dug his sweet pota- 

 toes a few days previous on account of the ravages of this insect. I 

 was informed that the injury caused by this beetle was very great. In 

 some fields nearly the whole crop was said to be destroyed. 



The beetle is somewhat ant-like in form, as is shown in Plate VI, fig. 1. 

 The color of the elytra and of the head and beak is bluish black ; that of 

 the prothorax is reddish brown. The yellowish-white oval eggs are laid 

 in small cavities eaten by the parent beetles near the stem end of the tu- 

 ba?ous roots. The milk-white larvae bore little tunnels through the 



