238 THE PEANUT— THE UNPREDICTABLE LEGUME 



outer arm, and with inner arm not longer than antero-posterior extent of 

 base NaUfpactus leucoloma Boh. 



Adult 

 Buchanan's 1939 description of the adult follows : 



Length, 8-12 mm. Brownish gray to gray, apical declivity of elytron usually 

 paler than disk, the latter sometimes indistinctly variegated with gray and pale 

 brown. Scales moderately dense, setae long and conspicuous, elytral scales in general 

 broader than those on head and pronotum; elytral setae of unequal lengths, the 

 longer ones fine, often somewhat kinky apically in dried specimens and two or 

 three times as long as the shorter ones, the latter brown to whitish ; elytral puncture 

 rows, at low magnifications, appearing as narrow, dark lines. 



Vestiture on head and rostrum brownish in general, white above and below eye 

 and on side of rostrum below scrobe, the scales on subapical area and on mandible 

 very small, often somewhat coppery or greenish, the setae on front inclined, those 

 above eye and on rostrum above suberect; nasal plate with its posterior margin 

 elevated; median groove much widened anteriorly, the widest portion sometimes 

 about one-fourth width of dorsum of rostrum; scape reaching hind margin of eye, 

 funicular segment 2 considerably longer than 1, often nearly twice as long, longer 

 than 3 and 4 together; eye distinctly elliptical. Prothorax wider than long (about 

 7 to 5), sides broadly and subevenly rounded; pronotum with broader white and 

 narrower brownish scales, the white ones forming a narrow, median line toward 

 apex and base (rarely complete), a curved, often indistinct, stripe beginning oppo- 

 site elytral interval 3, and a lateral stripe which is often incomplete anteriorly, the 

 disk sometimes with small, vague, scattered, whitish spots; pronotal setae curved, 

 inclined on disk, more nearly erect laterally; pronotum (with scales removed) 

 irregularly punctate and feebly rugo-granulate, median groove feeble or obsolescent. 

 Elytral intervals faintly convex, each with about 3 or 4 confused rows of setae, the 

 longer ones more abundant on apical declivity, the length of each longer seta equal 

 to or greater than the width of the interval ; white stripe covering interval 7 through- 

 out, about apical two-fifths of interval 6, and basal half or more of interval 8, the 

 stripe bordered mesad (on striae 5 and 6) by a broken, usually indistinct dark line, 

 and bordered laterad (on stria 8) by a narrow, blackish line. Body beneath scaly and 

 setose, the setae longer and more nearly erect medially, the abdominal scales pro- 

 gressively finer from base to apex, abdominal vestiture sparser medially; metaster- 

 num a little longer than in peregrinus. Legs with abundant, mostly setalike, prostrate 

 and suberect vestiture ; fore tibia with short, well separated denticulations ; posterior 

 face of hind tibia with a usually distinct ridge from base to about middle. 



Biology. Only one generation of the white-fringed beetle occurs an- 

 nually. The eggs are deposited on the surface of the ground, usually on 

 or next to debris (sometimes in the soil) during the summer and fall. All 

 adults are females and each beetle deposits an average of slightly less than 

 800 eggs. The eggs develop parthenogenetically, hatching in about 2 

 weeks during warm weather. The larvae pass the winter in the soil and 

 cause damage to crops, principally the following spring and summer. 

 It is at this time the stand of peanuts may be seriously damaged. Adults 



