OBSERVATIONS OF THE FOOD OF THE SNOUT BEE- 

 TLES. 



(Rhynchophora.) 



It seems to have been generally supposed that the principal 

 damage to corn by the "bill bugs" (Sphenophori) is done by 

 sucking the sap,* — a supposition of which my field observations 

 have given me no proof, and which I have consequently tested by 

 dissection. t Finding the facts thus ascertained of some interest, 

 I have extended my observations to other snout beetles, and pre- 

 sent here a summary of the results. 



Examples of Rhynchites hicolor, a snout beetle of medium size, 

 taken from the rose July 7, 1885, contained a considerable quan- 

 tity of netted-vein vegetation, fragments of which were still green, 

 the cells containing chlorophyl grains. The vascular tissue was 

 wholly made up of spiral cells clearly derived only from the 

 leaves of the plant. There was, however, no epidermal tissue 

 present. These beetles had evidently been feeding on the leaves 

 of the rose. 



An example of Bhynchiies hirtus was taken July 6; 1884, on one 

 of the common rosin weeds, Silphium iniegrifolium. Many of the 

 stems of this plant had been partly cut through about three or 

 four inches from the top, so that the part above the cut hung 

 down, partly withered. In each case where the injury seemed to 

 be recent, a specimen of the above Rhynchites was found among 

 the half-withered leaves, the beetles having their beaks buried in 

 the stems. No eggs or larvae were discovered; and I can only 

 surmise that the stem may have been deadened by the cut to 

 soften the tissue or to prevent the too rapid flow of the gummy 

 sap. 



The crop of the specimen taken in this situation was filled with 

 a mass of vegetation containing large numbers of spinous hairs 

 and spiral vessels. In the intestine was a smaller quantity of the 

 same material. These tissues were evidently derived from the 

 plant on which the beetles were found. 



Another example of this species of Rhynchites ("taken on 

 flowers" July 23, 1885) contained an abundance of spherical pollen 

 covered with very acute long spines and some of it imbedded in 

 fragments of anther tissue. 



^Itep. Ent.U. S. Dopt. Agr., imz, p. 139; Rep. State Ent. N., Y., 1882, p. 254. 



v-^ee page 70. 



