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a real acquisition to the American bill of fare. The Mexicans eat their beans three 

 times a day— at every meal the year round, if they have them, In a few days I will 

 endeavor to go myself to the place from which these bean bugs (I thiuk you ought to 

 call them Mexican bean bugs if not already named) were sent to me, some 20 miles 

 from Las Vegas, to examine them myself on the vines, and will then send you another 

 lot aud describe what I see. — [J. F. Wielandy, Springer, N. Mex., July 23, 1889. 



Reply. — I have your letters of the 22d, 23d, aud 24th of July, and also all of the 

 specimens which you mention. I am very much obliged to you for your full informa- 

 tion and for the specimens which you send. The insect which you call the New 

 Mexico bean bug is JEpllachna corrupta, one of the few plant-feeding lady-birds. A 

 congeneric species feeds upon the leaves of squash in the more northern States, and 

 is mentioned by Professor Eiley in his fourth Missouri report. The larger beetle 

 found upon Convolvulus is one of the leaf beetles known as Chelimorjaha eribraria. 

 Your long account in your letter of the 23d is very interesting, and unless you send 

 me something to supersede it after your visit in person to examine the insects in the 

 field, I shall publish it in Insect Life. Among your specimens we also found the 

 common rose bug of the Northern States (Macrodactylus subspinosus). The applica- 

 tion of an arsenical poison early in the season should be an effective remedy against 

 the bean bug. Your locality is a very interesting one, and I trust you will keep your 

 eyes open for injurious iusects for us. — [July 31, 1889.] 



Second letter. — In order to investigate the Mexican bean bug more fully (there 

 being no beans in this immediate neigbborhood) I went last Sunday to Watrous, 

 some 50 miles south of this place, on the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Eailroad, 

 where I examined them on the farm of Mr. William Kroenig, who is, with me, one of 

 the very few persons who take a i interest in such matters in New Mexico. The re- 

 sult is that I am enabled to send you to-day the insect in the egg stage, the larva 

 stage, and the imago stage. The pupaae I am not able to procure, for reasons appar- 

 ent enough. In conversing with Mr. Kroenig I find the following facts : That he has 

 known the insect since he has been in this region, which is about forty years ; that it 

 was then just as bad as no^v; that it is found chiefly Ou beans cultivated in old 

 fields, and on land newly cultivated is comparatively scarce, or even uuknown, for the 

 first few years ; that frequently it destroys the entire crop ; that the only way to keep 

 down its ravages to some extent is to plant the beans during the interval between 

 the first appearance of the bugs and their second appearance in the fall. The ques- 

 tion with me is now to find out if they have more than one brood, and if so, how many. 

 During my visitj examined a new field of beans in which there were no insects. 

 From that we went to a corn field in which there were beans planted among the 

 corn. We there found chiefly larvae, and only 4 bugs. The bugs had apparently laid 

 their eggs and died. The larva? were nearly all of the same size. I also found 3 

 bunches of eggs, which, together with the larvae, I put in the little vial with a 

 mixture of ale A and water. The parent bug appeared about the 15th of July for 

 the first time in this locality, possibly a few days sooner. Ou the 28th, they, as well 

 as the eggs, were nearly all gone, I finding, as stated, only 4 bugs aud 3 bunches of 

 eggs. I found among them two varieties of lady-bugs, which seemed engaged in 

 preying upon the eggs and small larvae, and of which I inclose a couple of speci- 

 mens. I do not know whether the larger, paler colored of the two iusects which I 

 take to belong to the lady-bug family is really ouo ; I never saw it before. You will 

 know. The 4 Mexican bean bugs and the lady-bugs are together in one box, and 

 the larvae in the bottle together with the eggs. I am positive that another appear- 

 ance of the full-growu bug occurs in September and October, because I saw some of 

 them at that time last year myself. You have no doubt received some of the bugs I 

 have sent you last week inclosed in letters ; one being a bug found on a species of 

 Ipomaea or Convolvulus; the other being the notorious Mexican bean bug, which is 

 the brown bug of the Coleoptera order — sixteen spotted. I will continue my observ- 

 ations on this insect. I send you a few bean leaves to show you the manner in which 



