December, 1958 



Ross: Faunistic Surveys 



143 



State Entomologist, published an outline 

 of the Coleoptera of Illinois, with keys to 

 genera and notes on many species. 



The next serious study of the order 

 concerned the genus Phyllophaga, the 

 June beetles. The larvae of these beetles 

 were extremely serious pests, and before 

 1890 Forbes and his assistants set about 

 making systematic collections of the genus 

 throughout the state. Forbes (1891) pub- 

 lished a survey of the Illinois June beetles ; 

 the publication included keys to the spe- 

 cies written by Hart. R. D. Glasgow 

 (1916) reviewed this material and pub- 

 lished a synopsis of the synonymy and the 

 description of a new species. Shortly 

 after, J. J. Davis made a detailed study 

 of the ecology of Phyllophaga and also 

 became interested in their taxonomy. The 

 study resulted in one fine paper on the 

 natural enemies of June beetles and in 

 another describing new forms. These two 

 papers appeared in the Bulletin (Davis 

 1919, 1920). Glasgow continued his in- 

 terest in the genus, but subsequently pub- 

 lished only one or two small papers on 

 the subject. 



In 1944 another beetle project was in- 

 augurated, this one on the leaf-feeding 

 beetles, or Chrysomelidae, with M. W. 

 Sanderson as the investigator. The be- 

 ginning of the leaf beetle investigation 

 was based on a need for supplying cor- 

 rect names for various species of economic 

 importance to Illinois crops. Early at- 

 tempts at identification disclosed that 

 much of the older literature on the fam- 

 ily was unreliable, and diagnosis of spe- 

 cies often was uncertain. Not only were 

 there deficiencies in the literature ; few 

 attempts had been made in North Ameri- 

 ca to relate larval and adult morphology 

 for generic or species diagnosis. The proj- 

 ect for Illinois was organized along the 

 lines of earlier faunistic studies. Collec- 

 tions were made throughout the state, 

 with special emphasis on securing host- 

 adult-larval associations. At present a 

 report embracing two-thirds of the sub- 

 families and including about a half of the 

 Illinois species is nearing completion, and 

 a large proportion of the field work for 

 other subfamilies is in an advanced stage. 



Thysanoptera. — Survey activity re- 

 lating to this order of little insects, the 

 thrips, had its beginning about 50 years 



ago; J. D. Hood (1908) published a 

 paper describing a group of species from 

 Illinois. Late in the 1930's, when Berlese 

 sampling was started in the Survey, inter- 

 est in this group was again aroused be- 

 cause of the large number of specimens 

 and variety of species which appeared in 

 the collections from moss and leaf mold. 



In 1947 L. J. Stannard planned a com- 

 prehensive faunistic study of the order for 

 Illinois. Many difficulties were encoun- 

 tered, including the inaccessibility of 

 critical types, difficulties in finding satis- 

 factory mounting media, and difficulties 

 in interpreting existing keys and descrip- 

 tions. The genera were especially poorly 

 defined and inconsistently used, and be- 

 fore satisfactory names could be estab- 

 lished for the Illinois species it was neces- 

 sary to embark on major studies in the 

 general classification of the group. The 

 results of one of these studies, investigat- 

 ing the generic categories in the suborder 

 Tubulifera, were published by the Uni- 

 versity of Illinois (Stannard 1957). As 

 a consequence of all these factors the Illi- 

 nois study of this group has come close 

 to a treatment of the thrips for half the 

 continent. Intensive collecting in all con- 

 ceivable situations and at different sea- 

 sons has brought to light large numbers 

 of new state records. A report on these 

 insects for Illinois is in an advanced state 

 of preparation. 



Lepidoptera. — As mentioned earlier, 

 in his first report Le Baron (1871) de- 

 scribed a new species of moth. Since that 

 time a great deal has been written, espe- 

 cially in the State Entomologist's reports, 

 on the moths of Illinois. Most of this 

 material, however, is in the form of small 

 contributions on the descriptions of spe- 

 cies, their larvae, or their habits. How- 

 ever, Thomas (1881), with the assistance 

 of Nettie Middleton and John Marten, 

 published a synopsis of lepidopterous 

 larvae for Illinois. This report included a 

 similar synopsis by D. W. Coquillett 

 (1881). Later, Forbes and his assistants 

 prepared kevs to certain economic spe- 

 cies, and W." P. Flint & Malloch (1920) 

 published in the Natural History Survey 

 Bulletin a paper on the European corn 

 borer and related species. 



In 1955 R. B. Selander began a fau- 

 nistic project designed to cover many of 



