105 
this food-plant, as corn planted sufficiently late to enable root-breeding 
israre. The adult beetle was found at all times from July 10, 1889, to 
December, 1890, while during the winter it was found among rubbish in 
strawberry beds, and in gardens and meadows. During the fall and 
winter those taken and dissected contained no developed eggs, but in 
the latter part of May, 1890, when the corn was a few inches high, the 
females collected contained eggs in an advanced stage of development. 
No eggs were found after oviposition, but the author concludes that they 
are placed like those of D. longicornis in the ground at the roots of the 
corn. 
In the course of his treatment of previous writings, Professor Garman 
justly calls in question a statement made in INSECT LIFE, vol. I, p. 59, 
where, by a typographical oversight, this insect is said to have “ bred” 
upon instead of ‘‘fed” upon melons. The error is self-evident from the 
language and from the tenor of the article, which does not treat of larval 
habits but of the food-habits of the beetle. We would bring together 
here our record of observation, communicated to Mr. Garman, and an 
abstract of which he has published in Psyche for May last. 
Our knowledge of the corn-feeding habit of the larve of this insect 
dates from April 30, 1883, when Judge Lawrence Johnson forwarded 
from Allenton, Wilcox County, Ala., a number of larve, of which he 
wrote as follows: 
Isent you last week from Allenton specimens of the saine destructive ‘‘bud worm” 
that I once mentioned as heard of but not seen. This is about the right time, for 
they are now going into the pupa stage, and in the sand you will find one of the 
pupe. The worm leaves the corn after doing its mischief, and the pupa referred to 
was found immediately under the stalk among the roots. I have never met with 
- this worm except on the prairie regions of southern Alabama, but have heard of it 
in Mississippi. 
The larve sent by Judge Johnson transformed to pups May 8, and 
the beetles were obtained May 21, 1885. The injury done is to young 
corn immediately or soon after germination, the larve burrowing into 
and eating the stalk just above the root. The common name of “bud 
worm,” by which the larva is known in the South, is derived from 
this habit. 
October 3, 1884, Judge Johnson again forwarded alcoholic specimens 
of the larve and beetles, obtained from Maj. M. F. Berry, of Pachuta, 
Miss. Judge Johnson wrote that— 
From March to the middle of May they so abounded in the southern belt of the 
‘Mississippi prairie as to destroy the corn crop. We have no corn except a little of 
the early planting (before the middle of March), and the late corn planted after the 
- 15th of May. This last was a second or third planting of the same fields and might 
have done well but for the unusual drouth of the period, this year unusually per- 
sistent. If you can suggest a certain remedy you will immortalize yourself in 
southern Mississippi. 
On June 18, 1886, Mr. Lukens, of Mount Vernon, Va., complained 
that his young corn was being ruined by some small worms, a field of 
