92 
PARASITES OF BEAN AND COWPEA WEEVILS. 
It has always been a matter of surprise and comment that our com- 
mon bean and pea weevils were not parasitized, since the allied cowpea 
weevils and various other bruchids that attack only wild plants were 
known to have chalcidid parasites which preyed upon them, often in 
great numbers. During the year that has just passed the writer was 
successful in rearing a parasite of the bean weevil, and the occasion is 
taken to present notes on all the parasites of the legume-feeding bru- 
chids which have been identified at this time. The determinations of 
the parasites are by Mr. W. H. Ashmead. 
Hupelmus cyaniceps Ashm.—September 27, 1897, the writer reared 
what is probably the first parasite known of the weevil, Bruchus obtectus 
Say. It was in beans brought to this office by Mr. Frank Benton from 
Berwyn, Md., and it occurred in some numbers. This species has pre- 
viously been mentioned by the writer as having bred from the seed 
pods of false indigo (Amorpha fruticosa) inhabited by Bruchus exiguus 
(Insect Life, Vol. V, p. 250). 
Bruchobius laticollis Ashm.—October 18, dead specimens were received 
from Dr. C. F. Parker, Mentone, Ala., with living individuals of the 
beetle of Bruchus obtectus in beans. This is a common parasite of 
Bruchus 4-maculatus. The Department has received specimens from 
several localities in beans and cowpeas infested by this latter weevil, 
among which may be mentioned Washington, D.C., Lake City, Fla., and 
Chicago, Ill. At the last-mentioned place numerous specimens were 
taken in seed from Brazil exhibited at the Columbian Exposition. At 
the Atlanta Exposition the species occurred in material from Venezuela. 
Cephalonomia sp.—A single example reared from beans from Vene- 
zuela, infested by 6b. 4-maculatus and exhibited at the Columbian 
Exposition. 
Aplastomorpha prattii Ashm. MS. was reared from Bruchus 4-macu- 
latus in cowpeas brought to the Division by Mr. F. C. Pratt from a 
store at Washington, D. C., November, 1896.—|F. H. C.| 
INJURY BY THE WESTERN FLEA-BEETLE, PHYLLOTRETA PUSILLA 
HORN. ; 
July 10, 1897, specimens of the small blackish flea-beetle known as 
Phyllotreta pusilla were received from Mr. D. A. Piercy, Kennedy, Nebr., 
with the accompanying statement that the species had destroyed 
between 10 and 20 acres of corn in twenty-four hours. In gardens they 
were stated to destroy everything. They came in swarms of black 
clouds and covered the plants. Our correspondent writes that astrong 
solution of soapsuds killed the beetles instantly, and that a mixture 
of fresh cow manure, wet up so as to be sprinkled on the plants with a 
brush or coarse sprinkler, would also drive the beetles away. 
Later in the month Mr. Benjamin F. Henry, of Hill City, S. Dak., 
complained of a ‘‘flea”—a name commonly applied by farmers to flea 
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