Miscellaneous. 349 



Broscus cepfialotes attacks the growing grain ; and Aristtis bucepha- 

 lus devours the seeds of grass*. 



In our own country the Omophron lahiatum, Fab., injures the 

 shoots of young corn in the Southern States. 



Harpalus calir/inosns, Fab., is suspected of feeding upon grain 

 in stack in Maryland, and also of eating timothy seeds from the 

 headsf. 



E. T. Dale, of Jasper, ilo., forwarded to the editors of the ' Ame- 

 rican Entomologist ' specimens of an insect found by him feeding 

 upon the seeds of a plant unknown to him. Upon examination they 

 proved to be II. caliginosusX. 



According to Mr. Mather, of Marshalltown, Iowa, the larvae of 

 some species of Harp>alus are destructive to his evergreens, he 

 having found them eating off the roots §. 



The foregoing is a synopsis of all facts relating to the vegetable- 

 feeding Carabidse, so far as known to the author of this paper. A 

 number of years ago the writer commenced the study of the food 

 of beetles, correctly judging, from what was then known, that either 

 naturalists were in error in their suppositions, or else that innocent 

 insects were wrongly accused. And he is free to confess his parti- 

 ality to the former theory as being the most correct. But after 

 several years of study and observation, I have found to my astonish- 

 ment not only the species accused but others also of this family 

 feeding largely upon vegetable substances, both useful and noxious. 

 Among my earliest observations upon this subject I noted the abun- 

 dance of Carabida3 about the shocks of wheat in a field where a 

 violent wind-storm had blown down a large number of sheaves, 

 under which, upon their being replaced, large numbers of Harpalvs 

 caliginosus, pennsijJv aniens^ and kerhivar/us, Pterostichus lucuhlandus, 

 and Anisodacfijli's haltimorensis were observed. 



The wheat was drawn in and threshed directly from the field ; 

 and a large percentage of the kernels were badly eaten. Previous 

 to the threshing, in another field, a specimen of H. pennsylvanicKS 

 was captured with a partially eaten grain of wheat in its mandibles. 

 The eaten grains of the threshed wheat seemed to agree with the 

 fragments found in the jaws of the beetle ; and as no other destruc- 

 tive elements were noted, the facts seemed to suggest that the 

 damage Avas done by the before-mentioned Carabidse. A few days 

 after, H. pennsylvanieus was found eating the now fully ripe seeds 

 from a head of upright timothy grass, and was observed to detach 

 them from the glumes. The same species has since been seen feed- 

 ing largely upon rag-weed {Ambrosia artemisicefoUa, Linn.) during 

 September, the seeds apparently being the favourite part. A short 

 time after it was found upon timothy grass, it was observed eating 

 the seeds of prairie-grass (Panicum crns-galli, L.) ; and the same day 

 another individual was found devouring an Ijjs fasciatus, Oliv., one 

 of the Nitidulidte, thus proving its carnivorous propensities also. 



* Westwood's Introduction, i. p. 01. 

 t Report U.S. Agr. Dep. 1868, p. 80. 

 i Am. Ent. o. s. vol. i. p. 80. 

 § Am. Eut. n. s. vol. i. p. 26. 



