selves, due in great part to atmospheric conditions during the winter of 

 1898-99, which materially interfered with their hibernation, as already 

 explained in an article by the writer in Bulletin No. 22, pages 51-64. 

 A few cruciferous pests, however, came under observation, and two 

 species were given special study. 



Observations on insects which affect beans and peas nave Deen con 

 tinued, a considerable number of the species here treated being known 

 to attack edible leguminous plants. 



One of the most interesting insects of the year from the naturalist's 

 standpoint is a gall-forming vine-borer affecting Lima beans, a species 

 as yet not seriously injurious but capable of considerable injury should 

 conditions favor a further increase in its numbers. It was unknown 

 to science at the time its study was begun. The same is true of a small 

 Tingitid bug affecting beans in Alabama and the plant-louse previously 

 mentioned, which has been seriously injurious to peas over a wide 

 extent of the eastern United States, Nova Scotia, and Canada, and 

 which has been considered in Bulletin No. 20, pp. 91—99, and elsewhere. 

 These three species were described by Messrs. G. D. Hulst, Otto 

 Heidemann, and W. G. Johnson, respectively, within a few weeks of 

 the completion of the manuscript of this bulletin. 



Among other bean- and pea-feeding insects which have come under 

 observation are the smaller corn stalk-borer, which had not been known 

 as troublesome since the first report of its injuries in 1881, and the 

 Mexican bean weevil. 



The pale-striped flea-beetle, a well known pest in the central portion 

 of this country from New Jersey to Colorado and New Mexico, has 

 been studied, and some new facts in its life history have been gained. 

 This species is one that has not hitherto received special attention in 

 previous publications of this Division, which is also true of several 

 other insects mentioned in this bulletin. 



Among cruciferous pests of the year the cabbage curculio and the 

 imported cabbage webworm were conspicuous, and the former, though 

 not so injurious as in certain previous years, occurred in numbers suffi- 

 cient to afford a good opportunity for its study. Considerable has 

 been added to our previous knowledge of the webworm, which has 

 already caused serious injury in the Gulf region, and is evidently destined 

 to become one of the most serious pests of the Southern States, and as 

 troublesome in time to the truck grower as are the harlequin bug and 

 cabbage worms at the present time. 



Considerable attention has been given to the strawberry flea-beetle 

 and the common rhubarb curculio, and rather full accounts of both 

 species are furnished. Some new facts in the life history of the bean 

 leaf -beetle and imbricated snout-beetle have been ascertained which 

 add somewhat toward a complete knowledge of these insects. 



Prominent among insect pests of the year 1899, and perhaps as 



