10 BULLETIN 221, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
their rubbish and trash for boiler fuel and thus destroy a great number 
of the beetles. 
Ordinarily the beetles attack a field of corn when it is very young 
and destroy it before the farmer becomes aware of their presence. 
No remedy has been found that can be recommended in combating | 
them after they enter the cornfield. If the crop is so badly dam- 
aged as to be worthless it can be replanted with safety from damage — 
by this insect about one month after the regular planting time. 
Within a few days after they have killed out the first planting they 
will leave the field, thus making it safe to replant. 
From all the writer has been able to observe or learn the beetles 
leave their hibernating quarters in early spring, depositing their eggs 
about young corn plants as soon as these are available for their pur- 
pose. It would also appear that the season of oviposition is prolonged 
and that it is these overwintering beetles that feed upon and destroy 
the corn plants while thus engaged. This would lead to the some- 
what anomalous assumption that the parent beetle under stress of 
hunger destroys the food plant of the larve, which if true would 
account for the very erratic occurrence of the outbreaks of this pest. 
As an additional suggestion, the fact that the beetles appear and 
disappear with considerable regularity from south to north, taken 
together with the fact that corn planted three or four weeks after 
the usual planting season has escaped attack of the beetle, would 
indicate that something might be gained by delaying corn planting 
in localities where beetles have been injurious the previous year. 
Mr. E. H. Gibson, in his experimental work with this species in the 
vicinity of Charleston, Mo., during late April and early May, 1915, 
reports having found that, after repeated trials under varying con- 
ditions, carried out with check experiments, the beetles can be readily 
destroyed by a poisoned-bran bait, consisting of 25 pounds of wheat 
bran, 1 pound of Paris green, 1 gallon of low-grade molasses, and 
the juices of 3 oranges, with enough water to bring the mixture to a 
stiff dough. The best success in the use of this poisoned bait was 
obtained when applied in the late afternoon. It would seem that 
this measure might be an extremely practical one if applied to the 
restricted areas from which the beetles frequently spread, the bait 
being scattered lightly on the ground among the plants where the 
beetles are at work. 
