68 PAPERS ON CEEEAL AND FOEAGE INSECTS. 



planting was made. On the lower depressions of the field (see PL IX, 

 fig. 1), termed "swales" in that neighborhood, the corn from this 

 planting was either small or missing, the size of the stalks being very 

 irregular. In most cases the main stalk was aborted and suckers 

 had been thrown up, sometimes a distance of several inches from 

 tne original plant. The main stalk was either missing altogether or 

 had become so dwarfed and distorted as to be practically worthless. 

 (See PL IX, fig. 2.) It lies * prostrate on the ground, curled and 

 twisted, being sometimes almost buried in the loose earth, and the 

 beetles were still found attacking the plants. 



RECENT INVESTIGATIONS OF THE BUREAU OF ENTOMOLOGY. 



Reference has already been made in the proper places to the investi- 

 gations carried out in Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas by Messrs. Kelly, 

 Urbahns, and Parks, of the Bureau of Entomology, and in North 

 Carolina by Mr. James A. Hyslop, also an assistant in the bureau. 

 On May 23, 1911, we received a communication from Mrs. S. D. 

 Jordan, Hertford, N. C, accompanied by specimens of these beetles, 

 stating that the insects take possession of and destroy whole fields 

 of corn as soon as it comes up. Many farmers had been obliged 

 that season to plow and plant their corn for the second time. The 

 insects attack the plants by inserting their bill into the stalk near 

 the ground, causing the plants to wilt in a few hours. The trouble 

 had been noticed for several years and appeared to be rapidly on 

 the increase. Apparently, unless some steps were taken for their 

 protection, the farmers in that neighborhood would not be able to 

 raise sufficient corn for their own use. Two days later a communica- 

 tion was received from Mr. William T. Shannonhouse, from the same 

 post office, accompanied by specimens of the bettles. Mr. Shannon- 

 house complained that these insects attacked the corn from the time 

 it was 3 or 4 inches high until it became 10 inches or a foot in height. 

 Then they were found just below the surface of the ground punctur- 

 ing the stalk, causing the death of the plant. Mr. Shannonhouse 

 called attention to the fact that where corn had followed cotton 

 crops no damage was apparent, but where the preceding crop had 

 been corn the damage was in many cases very severe, often resulting 

 in a total loss of the crop. In cases where the land had been planted 

 to corn in alternate years, and during the intervening years to some 

 other crop, no difficulty was experienced. The author, together 

 with Mr. Vernon King, visited these fields in company with Mr. 

 Shannonhouse on June 20 and made a careful examination of them. 

 It was found that where cotton had been the previous crop, attack 

 by Sphenophorus was hardly noticeable. Larva? were abundant, 

 ranging from newly hatched to half-grown, while eggs were being 

 deposited on both small, tender plants, and on larger, more mature 



