THE SOUTHERN" CORN LEAF-BEETLE. 5 



chloa crus-galli). Kernels of wheat and corn which had been soaked 

 in water, pieces of decaying straws, corn pith, and toadstools were 

 also tried, with negative results. 



A few larvae, fed on a combination of decaying corn pith and 

 growing cornroots, failed to mature, probably for other reasons than 

 lack of proper food, but were sufficiently large for use in identifying 

 those collected in the field. 



Numerous searches have been made in cornfields, wheat fields, 

 grass, and fields grown up with weeds, and the larvae have not yet 

 been found feeding on plants other than corn. Larva? have been 

 found in the soil in cornfields where cocklebur and corn plants were 

 growing together, and where corn was growing alone, but in no other 

 situation. 



The first larvae found in the field were observed by Mr. T. H. 

 Parks and the writer at Wellington, Kans., on July 20, 1910, in small 

 round earthen cells from 4 to 6 inches deep, with a tiny burrow 

 leading toward the cornroots, which had been more or less eaten. 

 The larvse hastily retreated to safety and feigned death when dis- 

 turbed. By way of further determining this habit, a larva was 

 allowed to crawl on the surface of the soil, when on suddenly jarring 

 the soil several inches from it it hastily retreated and "folded up." 

 Although a diligent search was made for feeding larvae during the 

 following days of July and up until the middle of August, none was 

 found, though numbers of larvae were unearthed. 



The field in which the larvae were first found is the dark waxy 

 second bottom land which becomes very gummy and sticky during 

 wet weather and very hard during dry weather. The outbreaks and 

 damage reported by Prof. Webster, Mr. Tucker, and Mr. King and 

 those observed by the writer in Kansas, Texas, and Arkansas have 

 all been on soil of this character. In sandy or light soils very few 

 larvae or pupae have been found and correspondingly few injured 

 cornroots have been observed. 



From the laboratory notes made at Brownsville, Tex., latitude 

 26°, by Mr. R. A. Vickery, it appears that the larval period probably 

 extends from about April 1 to about June 15, while the writer's 

 observations at Piano, Tex., latitude 33°, and at Paris, Ark., latitude 

 35°, show that the larval period ranges from April 15 to July 1, and 

 at Wellington, Kans., latitude 37°, from May 1 to July 15. 



In the bottom lands of the Arkansas River, near Paris, Ark., the 

 larvae had pupated and practically all the adults had issued by July 

 22, 1914, indicating that they began pupating as early as July 1. 

 In the vicinity of Wellington, Kans., the larvae began to pupate 

 about the middle of July, pupae being found as early as July 20 and 

 as late as August 14. The period for maturing the pupa seems to 

 be about 15 days, although no exact data have been obtained. 



