60 



PAPERS ON CEREAL AND FORAGE INSECTS. 



Experiment Station, found pupae in the same locality November 4. 

 If we allow 8 days as the egg period and 37 to 41 days as the larval 

 period, as determined hy Mr. Kelly in Kansas, the eggs, judging from 

 the records just mentioned, are deposited in North Carolina from 

 about June 1 to September 20, or during a period of approximately 

 4 months. Mr. I, J. Condit found a nearly full-grown larva at 

 Arlington, Va., June 30, 1906, which confirms in a general way the 

 preceding observations. 



THE LARVA. 



(Fig. 19.) 



Quite naturally the larva of this species closely resembles that of 

 Splienophorus maidis. The principal differences are brought out in 

 the illustration of S. caUosus. The head (fig. 19,5), is more slender, 

 especially toward the vertex, the area between the Y sutures is nearly 



smooth and quite different in 

 outline from that of 8. maidis 

 (fig. 19, c) drawn on the same 

 scale. In this latter species 

 the space is shallowly sculp- 

 tured, with the sutures more 

 sinuate. The larva? of both 

 species vary greatly in size, 

 and it is doubtful if in this 

 respect they differ materially 

 from each other. 



Mr. Caudell found the larvae 

 among the matted roots, 

 where they form cells and 

 where they are frequently 

 seen completely embedded in 

 the chuf a . These they hollow 

 out, leaving only the hull. 

 They are sometimes so nu- 

 merous that frequently as 

 many as a dozen can be taken in a single bunch of roots. 



Mr. I. J. Condit, on October 8, found the larvae in chuf a at Arlington 

 Farms, Va., usually from half an inch to an inch below the surface 

 of the ground. They seemed quite capable of subsisting upon the 

 dead, perfectly brown, and nearly rotten substance of the leaves, 

 stems, and crowns of the plant, but they also perforated the roots. 



Mr. F. B. Hopkins observed, on June 26, also at the Arlington 

 Farms, Va., that the larvae were operating in the crown of this same 

 plant, Carexfranhii. 



Mr. G. .L. Swindell, in a communication dated August 6, 1900, 

 states that at Swindell, N. C, the larvae injured the roots of rice by 





Fig. 19. — a, Larra of the "curlew bug" {Sphenophorus 

 caUosus); b, head of same; c, head of larra of the 

 maize billbug (Sphenophorus maidis). Enlarged. 

 (Original.) 



