41 



Oar first report of injury, in 1903. was from Prof. H. A. Morgan, 

 Baton Rouge, La., to whom the beetles had been reported as trouble- 

 some to cotton by boring into the buds, leaf, stalks, and stems, this 

 occurrence being noted near the Texas line. Later Prof. E. D. Sander- 

 son wrote of similar injuries in Texas, and furnished data in regard 

 to the sources from which reports of injury had emanated. These were 

 from Denson Spring, Crockett, Palestine, Mount Pleasant, Augusta, 

 and Groesbeck, and began with May 29 and ended June 12. Injury, 

 however, could not be confirmed. 



At Morgan, Ga., the beetles were also found on cotton and were 

 mistaken for the cotton boll weevil. At Frierson, La., the beetles 

 were also reported on cotton in two fields, July 7. In both cases the 

 cotton fields where the insects were found were planted after cowpea, 

 and in both instances the planters had observed 

 considerable loss in cowpea the previous year, with 

 little doubt due to these insects, although they were 

 not detected as the cause of the loss. Dr. A. W. 

 Morrill, of this office, who visited the infested 

 locality, made some observations on the insect in 

 confinement, which coincide with those reported 

 by the first correspondent quoted in Georgia. The 

 beetles fed on the stalks and. petioles or leaf -stems 

 and larger veins of the leaves of cotton, even when 

 cowpeas were available, and their attacks caused 

 wilting and dying of the leaves. When many ^^ST 

 punctures were made in the petiole just below a 

 leaf the leaves were sometimes completely severed. In no case, how- 

 ever, did the} T attack either bolls or squares. 



EARLIER BIOLOGIC DIVISIONAL RECORDS. 



The Division of Entomology has received reports of occurrences of 

 this species in earlier years as follows: 



September 27, 1887, from Mr. E. A. Schwarz, Cocoanut Grove, 

 Fla. , larvae and pupre in pods of cowpea. April 9, 1888, complaint of 

 injury to string beans from Dr. Charles S. Herron, Bartow, Fla. , who 

 stated that the gardeners in Polk County were sustaining a heavy loss 

 because of their crops of string beans being "stung- 1 by this insect, 

 the spot where the pods were attacked becoming black and rendering 

 the beans unfit for shipment. When alarmed, the insects, after the 

 manner of the weevils of this group, dropped to the ground and were 

 difficult to capture. August 19 and 24, 1894, Mr. Schwarz wrote of 

 the occurrence of this species at New Orleans, La. , where it was ovi- 

 positing in cowpea. September 18, 1899, Messrs. James H. Aycock 

 & Sons, Wedgefield, S. C, sent the beetles from cotton, mistaking 



