185 



fereutiated iu both sexes, but have retained those superficial ap- 

 pearances which we may suppose were of value to the ancestor of all 

 these forms. 



The study of these characters in all our available species will be con- 

 tinued, and we may hope that a permanent result, so far as the x^resent 

 limitation of species is concerned, can be thus arrived at. 



I have taken the course of proposing new names for three of the forms 

 here described, although several names exist in the synonomy which 

 might possibly be available. I have done this because, after discussing 

 the matter with Dr. Horn, he assures me that it would be almost impos- 

 sible to discover which of the forms, as separated by me, the authors had 

 before them. An examination of the types will have to be made, and 

 as the characters relied upon were in almost every instance color, punct- 

 uation, size, or some other equally variable character, it is more than 

 probable that each of the authors have mixed up two or more species 

 under the same name. At any rate, even if tbe names proposed by me 

 should eventuall}' be referred as synonyms, they will at least have served 

 their purpose of making specific identification certain. 



A SANDWICH ISLAND SUGAR-CANE BORER. 



{Splienophorus obscurus Boisd.) 



In August last we received from Mr. E. J. Wickson, of Berkeley, Oal., 

 a piece of sugar-cane, brought from the Sandwich Islands, infested 

 by borers, which were reported to do considerable damage. The speci- 

 mens were sent to Professor Wickson by Prof. LeEoy D. Brown, presi- 

 dent of the State University of Nevada, who collected them in June 

 while visiting the Sandwich Islands. Professor Brown's attention was 

 called to the subject by his Majesty, King Kalakaua, who requested 

 him to bring the specimens to this country for study. The cane received 

 at the Department proved to be infested by the larv?e of a large Snout- 

 beetle of the genus Sphenophorus, several species of which are known 

 to bore into the stalks and roots of corn in this country. Our Annual 

 Eeport for 1881-2, page 13^ ff, contains an account of the habits and 

 transformations of the species which more particularly affect corn in 

 the United States, and which are known as Uorn Bill -bugs. 



The only i)revious notice of Sugar-cane Borers in the Hawaiian Is- 

 lands with which we are familiar is from the Haivaiian Flanter^s Monthly 

 for July, 1883, but this refers to the Lepidopterous borer Chilo saccharalis^ 

 a species which is widely distributed wherever Sugar-cane is grown. 

 Another species of Sphenophorus affects Sugar-cane in the West Indies 

 and South America and was described by tbe Eev. Lansdown Guild- 

 ing in his prize essay on "Insects Affecting Sugar-cane" (Trans. Soc. 

 of Arts, Vol. XLYI, 1828) as 8. saccharic while the well-known Rhyncho- 



