93 



May 20, 1898, word was recived from Mr. Harold W. Pring, Hester, 

 La., that this species was doing considerable damage to stubble cane 

 in that vicinity. 



A similar letter was received from Mr. E. M. Eichardson, Millhaven, 

 Ouachita Parish, La., with complaint of the destruction to corn in that 

 parish, the letter being dated May 22. 



November 4, 1898, Mr. Rene L. Derouen, Yille Platte, La., sent speci- 

 mens of this species, with report that it was very destructive to rice 

 and corn crops of that vicinity, attacking the plants when very young. 



The species has been treated somewhat fully in the Report of the 

 Entomologist of this Department for the year 1881 (pp. 128, 129), and 

 in Volume I of Insect Life (pp. 11, 12). 



The related species, L. gibbosus, was received May 9, 1898, from Mr. 

 Joe Davenport, who wrote that it was playing great havoc with stands 

 of corn in the vicinity of Merrouge, La. The beetles were stated by 

 our correspondent to go down under the surface of the earth and com- 

 pletely shred the cornstalks between the surface and the roots. 



A singular instance of injury by this latter species was reported Sep- 

 tember 23 of the same year by Mr. B. M. Vaughan, Grand Rapids, Wis. 

 The beetles were stated to be working into carrot roots and also into 

 the tubers of dahlias. 



A NEW ENEMY TO THE GRAPEVINE IN MEXICO. 



Under date of July 1, 1898, Mr. L. de Balestrier, of the editorial 

 corps of the Progreso de Mexico, published at Mexico City, sent 

 specimens of the long-horned beetle, Eeterachthes ceneolus Bates, in its 

 various stages, with report that the species is causing damage to the 

 vineyards of San Lais de la Paz, in the State of Guanajuato. Dr. 

 Larragosa, who sent the specimens to Mr. de Balestrier, wrote of the 

 species as follows : 



The perfect insect, and also the pupa, are generally found lodged in the ■woody- 

 portions or in the medullar canal. It appears that the female deposits her eggs 

 beneath the hark, and the larva, having once forced and gained some size, opens a 

 gallery at the expense of the internal layers of the hark and the external layers of 

 wood, reaching the center of the grape shoot, where it remains until it terminates 

 its metamorphoses. All of the plants attacked perish. The rapidity with which 

 the larvae boi'e the wood is remarkable, for one that I observed advanced in two 

 hours one centimeter. 



WESTWARD SPREAD OF THE COMMON ASPARAGUS BEETLE. 



April 23, 1898, Mr. L. B. Taft, horticulturist of the Michigan Agri- 

 cultural College Experiment Station, wrote that he had received from 

 Benton Harbor, Berrien County, that State, the asparagus beetle, 

 Crioceris asparagi. Iu response to request, specimens of the insect 

 were sent to this office with the additional information that they were 

 received from Mr. A. J. Kniseley, and that it was a matter of considerable 

 importance, as Benton Harbor and her sister city St. Joseph grow large 



