128 PESTS OF GARDEN AND FIELD CROPS 
or pastured, the pest is never abundant enough to demand special 
treatment. 
Bill-bugs (Sphenophorus spp.) 
Bill-bugs are small, dark snout beetles, one fourth to three fourths 
of an inch long. Their serious injury is to young corn, and varies 
somewhat according to the species 
at work. 
ac 
Fic. 107.—A Bill-bug, Sphenophorus 
costipennis Horn. Original. 
The Maize Bill-bug (Spheno- 
phorus maidis Chittn.) injures corn, 
both in its larval stage as a grub 
burrowing in the lower part of 
the stalk and the taproot, and 
FP 
Fic. 106.— Work of Bill-bugs. Fic. 108.— A Bill-bug, Sphenophorus 
Original. zee Walsh. Original. 
as an adult beetle, later in the summer. Infested corn looks 
unthrifty, is stunted, and later the stalks are distorted and twisted. 
If a stalk is cut open, the burrow of the grub will be found in 
its lower part, and up to August the grub itself will be found, 
a small, thickset larva with a black head. By September the adult 
beetle, black, two fifths to three fifths of an inch long, will be found in 
