MEXICAN BEAN BEETLE IN THE SOUTHEAST. OAT 
frugiperda S. & A. A fourth collected in the field proved to be 
Heliothis obsoleta Fab. (Pl. XI, C.) These unusual habits may have 
been caused by the destruction by the bean beetle of the bean foliage 
on which these insects had been feeding. 
The ants Solenopsis geminata Fab. and Pheidole sp. destroyed bean- 
beetle pup in experimental cages during the summer of 1921. 
The adult of Epilachna corrwpta has been observed to feed on its 
own eggs in the field in the presence of green bean foliage, and 
larvee have also been observed feeding on pupz in the presence of 
other food, but very rarely. In the absence of green foliage, adults 
and larve very commonly feed on pupe and eggs of the bean beetle, 
but not to a sufficient extent to be important in natural control. 
Not infrequently dead larve and pupe, light brown to dark brown 
in color, are observed in the field, attached to leaves. Bacteriological 
examinations of such specimens by Dr. G. F. White showed the 
presence of unidentified Coccobacillus and Streptococcus. Attempts 
to inoculate healthy larve by spraying cultures, furnished by Doctor 
White, on bean plants exposed to the larve availed nothing. It 
appears, however, that in the field during the summer a low percentage 
of larvee and pupz succumb to a bacterial disease. 
PARASITES. 
The Mexican bean beetle has been exceptionally free from parasites 
in the United States. No internal insect parasites have been recorded 
heretofore, and none was observed during the season of 1921. In 
1922, however, a few native parasites of native insects were reared 
from the bean beetle. 
Phorocera claripennis Macq. (Pl. XI, A) was common during July 
and early August, and a considerable number were reared from egg 
to adult in cages on third and fourth instar larve of the bean beetle 
during that period, but the species gradually became scarce and 
disappeared from the field by September 1. The female fly deposits 
distinct white eggs on thelarva. (Pl. XI, 6B.) Only one larva of the 
parasite completes its development in the host. This species, although 
the most common native parasite during 1922, did not become abun- 
dant enough at any time to effect any appreciable natural control. 
It has many other hosts. 
The sarcophagid fly Helicobia helicis Towns.® was reared in two 
instances from bean-beetle larve. This general feeder is also rare. 
In 1921 Prof. H. F. Wickham collected a puparium of a parasitic 
tachinid fly in the vicinity of Mexico City, Mexico. In 1922 E. G. 
Smyth, later in the season, collected numbers of these puparia and 
shipped them to Birmingham, Ala. The fly occurs very late in the 
season, but is reported to parasitize 30 to 50 per cent of the larvee 
of Epilachna corrupta in Mexico. It has been recently described by 
Dr. J. M. Aldrich as Paradexodes epilachnae.’. More than 300 were 
successfully reared in the insectary at Birmingham on third and 
fourth instar larve of the bean beetle, and a few were liberated. 
A considerable number of puparia, also, were held in hibernation. 
Kmergence continued during mild weather in the winter, when the 
° Determined by Dr. J. M. Aldrich, of the U. S. National Museum. 
7 Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington, vol. 25, No. 4, April, 1923, pp. 95-96. 
