1920 J Recent Literature. 0A0 



lin's Gull, Upland Plover, Red-headed Woodpecker, Lewis's Woodpecker, 

 Crow (in 21 stomachs), Crow Blackbird, Meadowlark, and Curve-billed 

 Thrasher. Various other species of Eleodes have been found to be eaten 

 by the following 16 birds in addition to the eight just named: Avocet, 

 Sparrow Hawk, Burrowing Owl, Great-horned Owl, Hairy Woodpecker, 

 Red-shafted Flicker, Road-runner, Horned Lark, Arkansas Kingbird, 

 Magpie, Brewer's Blackbird, Yellow-headed Blackbird, Loggerhead Shrike, 

 Mockingbird, Sage Thrasher, and Robin. The total list of known bird 

 predators on Eleodes, therefore, is now 24. Of these, the crow, magpie 

 and roadrunner probably are the most effective. 



Lotus borer (Pyransta genitalis). — This moth larva feeds on a variety 

 of plants but seems to damage man's interests only when feeding on the 

 American lotus. The larvae frequently destroy every seed in the recep- 

 tacle of this beautiful waterlily. In an account 1 of the species, Dr. F. H. 

 Chittenden states that blackbirds are said to eat the larvae before they 

 go into shelter. In July, 1919, the reviewer had an opportunity to ob- 

 serve an infestation of Nelumbo by this species at the Dardenne Lakes, 

 Missouri, and the work of blackbirds against the pest. A large proportion 

 of the receptacles of the water chinquapin were blasted and the exit holes 

 of the larvae with the accompanying frass and silk gave a clue to the pests, 

 good specimens of which were soon found. Red-winged Blackbirds were 

 observed working at the receptacles and investigation showed they knew 

 well how to dig out the larvae. All of the infested receptacles near the 

 fringe of trees in which the birds perched, seemed to have been freed of 

 the lotus-borers. 



Round-headed apple-tree borer (Saperda Candida). — Mr. Fred E. Brooks 

 says that this species is the most destructive in the eastern United States 

 of any of the several kinds of insects that injure apple-trees by boring into 

 the bark and wood. Birds are the only important enemies, and the author 

 states 2 that "Woodpeckers destroy great numbers of the borers by remov- 

 ing them from their burrows. ... In some cases from 50 to 75 per 

 cent, of the borers are destroyed in this way. . . . Probably both the 

 hairy and downy woodpeckers feed on the borers." It should be noted 

 that Mary Treat has definitely recorded 3 that the Downy Woodpecker 

 and Flicker feed upon this pest. 



The Biological Survey has found beetles of the same genus as the apple- 

 tree borer in stomachs of the Laughing Gull, Cassin's Kingbird, Magpie, 

 Bluejay, Meadowlark, Red-eyed Vireo and Robin. 



Flat-headed apple-tree borer (Chrysobothris feviorala) . — The same author 

 quoted with reference to the preceding pest, notes 4 that Woodpeckers 

 devour also many flat-headed borers, and gives the names of three species 



i Journ. Ec. Ent., Vol. II, No. 6, Dec. 1918, p. 457. 



« Farmers' Bui. 675, U. S. Dept. Agr. Revised, Sept. 1919, p. 12. 



» Journ. N. Y. Ent. Soc, Vol. I, 1893, p. 17. 



♦ Farmers' Bui. 1065, V. S. Dept. of Agriculture, Oct. 1919, p. 9. 



