59 



All the above are injurious to corn, only parvulus affecting small 

 grain and timothy also, and ochreus attacking both corn and mil- 

 let. All damage corn in the same way, piercinpj the young plant 

 in early spring with their beaks, and chewing and devouring the 

 soft interior tissue. This gives rise to an appearance, as the leaves 

 unfold, of parallel oblong holes extending across the leaf, due to 

 thfe fact that the j'Oung leaf has been several times punctured by 

 one thrust of the insect's beak. Where the injury is severe, the 

 growing tip of the plant is killed, or the stalk is dwarfed and does 

 not mature the ear, or the whole plant is killed outright. 



ANALYSIS OF LITERATURE.* 



Under this head I give, for the benefit of those who do not 

 have access to the literature of economic entomology, an analytic- 

 al synopsis of published matter relating to the species of Sphe- 

 nophorus occurring in Illinois in numbers sufficient to make their 

 known or probable injuries a matter of importance. 



The Genus Sphenophoriis. This genus, first distinguished and 

 described in 1837 by Schonherr (5-874), was restricted by Dr. 

 Horn, in 1873, by the removal of Metamasius (23-411); and again 

 by LeConte in 1876 by the separation of Khodobserius and Cac- 

 tophagus (28-331). It was last described in 1883 by LeConte and 

 Horn in their "Classification of North American Coleoptera" (47), 

 where its distinctive characters and distribution are given. 



Besides the general mention of the species in the catalogues and 

 check lists of the Coleoptera of North America (7, 22, 37, 52), 

 record of the Kansas species was made by Popenoe and by Snow 

 f in 1876 (26, 27);^ of the Florida species by Schwarz (31), 

 ^' and of those of Michigan by Hubbard and Schwarz in 1878 (32— 

 1 642, 665); of those of Cincinnati and vicinity by Dury in 1879 

 (33); and of the species of Ottawa, Canada, by Harrington in 

 1884 (49). 



Townend Glover (United States Entomologist) made, in 1854 

 (8), the first mention of the genus as injurious to crops, describ- 

 ing an injury to corn in South Carolina, Alabama, and Arkansas 

 by some undetermined species (probably rohustus). He records 

 the appearance of the beetle in spring, the place of deposition of 

 the egg, the habits and place of pupation of the larva, and the 

 nature and amount of injury to corn, — most serious on swamp lands. 

 Their numbers were apparently diminished by plowing up and 

 burning stubble and roots of corn. This article was afterwards 

 abstracted by Lintner in his First Report as State Entomologist 

 of New York (46-260), and by Riley in the "American Naturalist' 

 (41). In 1863 (14) Glover adds the suggestion of hand picking 

 as a practical remedy. 



S. ochreus, Lec. (The Clay-colored Bill Bug). This species 

 but recently known as injurious, has not been mentioned hitherto 



^ Figures in parenthesis refer to bibliography at cloee of article. 



