﻿2 BULLETIN 5, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



locally, north of the States mentioned in the preceding paragraph, 

 although in 1890 some damage was done in the southern portions of 

 Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio. Southward from the latitude of these 

 States to the Gulf, and extending into Mexico, however, serious rav- 

 ages are of more or less frequent occurrence. The author reared the 

 beetles from larvae that were attacking late-planted corn at La 

 Fayette, Ind., during July and early August, 1888, though there was 

 no serious injury to the crop as a whole. A larva was also observed 

 by the author in the act of eating into a stem of young wheat in the 

 field, on October 11, 1890, in the same locality, but the species is not 

 of importance as a wheat insect. 



FOOD PLANTS OF THE LARVAE. 



It is probable that the larvae have attacked corn in the Southern 

 States for at least a century or more. Prof. A. L. Quaintance re- 

 corded them as feeding not only on corn but also on the roots of rye, 

 garden beans, and southern chess (Bromus unioloides) in Georgia, 1 

 working serious injury to both corn and beans. The author ob- 

 served the larvae attacking young wheat at La Fayette, Ind., October 

 11, 1890, while Mr. E. O. G. Kelly observed the same thing to occur 

 at Wellington, Kans., October 2, 1907. March 1, 1909, Mr. T. D. 

 Urbahns, at Mercedes, Tex., found larvae one-half inch in length 

 on the roots of young alfalfa and from these reared adults March 19. 

 April 20, 1911, Mr. George G. Ainslie found larvae in abundance 

 feeding on the roots of young oats about Jackson, Miss. Adults from 

 these larvae emerged May 17. The same observer reared adults froni 

 larvae found feeding on the roots of barnyard grass (Echinochloa 

 crus-galli) at Hurricane, Tenn., on July 12, 1912, the adults in this 

 case emerging on July 21. The grass upon the roots of which the 

 larvae were feeding grew up among and between corn that had pre- 

 viously been attacked and killed by the pest. 



Dr. F. H. Chittenden 2 states that larvae or pupae have been ob- 

 served at the roots of corn, wheat, rye, millet (Panicum miliaceum) , 

 southern chess (Bromus unioloides), beans, goldenglow (Rudbeckia 

 sp.), and sedges of the genera Cyperus and Scirpus. Larvae have 

 been found and reared by him from about the roots of Jamestown 

 weed (Datura stramonium) and pigweed (Amaranthus), and it is 

 not improbable that they feed on these plants. 



Prof. E. Dwight Sanderson 3 reported the larvae working upon the 

 roots of Johnson grass (Sorghum halepense) where these roots at 

 the time appeared older than those of the corn. Under date of Feb- 

 ruary 19, 1907, Mr. Dick Hatcher, of Fross, Tex., through Repre- 



1 U. S. Dept. Agr., Bur. Ent., Bui. 26, pp. 38-39, 1900. 



2 U. S. Dept. Agr., Bur. Ent, Circ. 59, p. 4, 1905. 



3 Entomological News, vol. 17, p. 213, June, 1906. 



