62 PAPEES OX CEEEAL AND FOEAGE INSECTS. 



illustrating this point, as well as the severity of attack, Mr. Swindell,, 

 who has been previously quoted, stated that in some years the loss 

 amounted to almost total destruction. Mr. R. I. Smith, under 

 date of May 22, 1907, stated that the species was doing great damage 

 to corn at Statesboro, Ga. Under date of May 30, 1899, Mr. Edward 

 Markham, Kehukee, N. C, complained that the insect was doing so 

 much damage to corn in his neighborhood that in some instances the 

 crop was being abandoned. In his estimation it was the worst insect 

 pest observed in his community. Under date of August 3, of the same 

 year, Mr. James K. Metcalf, Silver City, N. Mex., complained that 

 the insects were destroying entire fields of corn, working in this same 

 manner. At Arkansas City, Kans., June 22, 1910, Mr. T. H. Parks, 

 of this bureau, found the species exceedingly abundant in fields of 

 young corn growing along the Arkansas River. Mr. T. J. Clark, sr., 

 of Cliff, N. Mex., under date of June 25, 1904, states that the 

 larvae are more destructive than cutworms. In his opinion the 

 species is a native of old Mexico and had not been observed in his 

 locality until about eight years previous. Mr. T. D. Urbahns, of 

 this bureau, found that corn about Duncan, Okla., during June 18 

 and 19, 1909, had suffered very severely. In one case about 20 1 

 acres of lowland in the heart of a large field had been entirely destroyed. 

 It had been replanted, but the second planting was also badly dam- 

 aged. In another field an area, also of about 20 acres, in the heart 

 of a still larger field had been completely destroyed. This land was 

 wet and had been flooded during the previous summer. In a field 

 near Comanche, Gkla., consisting of about 100 acres of bottom land, 

 Mr. Urbahns found that the crop had been ver} r severely damaged, 

 some of it having been twice replanted. This land had also been 

 flooded the previous year. A field of about 60 acres in this same 

 neighborhood, examined June 19, had been entirely destroyed. At 

 Great Bend, Kans., July 7, 1910, Mr. Parks found that a field of 6 

 acres of corn had been damaged about 20 per cent by these insects. 

 Under date of May 17, 1909, Mr. J. F. Davidson, of Marlow, Okla., 

 complained that the insect had completely destroyed 100 acres of 

 young corn on his farm. Soine of this ground had been replanted a 

 third time, with discouraging prospects of his being able to secure a 

 crop of corn. He further states: 



My land is all bottom and valley and adjacent to Little Beaver Creek, a stream 50 

 feet wide. The heavy floods of last spring caused this creek to overflow its banks and 

 the water spread out over all the bottom land, inundating thousands of acres and 

 destroying 'the growing crops; 40 acres of my land was thus under water seven different 

 times. I assume the result is the billbug and its depredations this spring on all bot- 

 tom lands, which are the best corn lands in this section of Oklahoma. Thousands of 

 acres have already been completely destroyed by this pest, and farmers are now busy 

 replanting, with slight hopes of seeming a stand that will justify cultivation. 



The larva on first hatching is, of course, very small, although, as the 

 eggs increase in size after being deposited in the plants, the size of 

 the larva will considerably exceed that of the newly deposited egg. 



