BIOLOGIC NOTES ON SPECIES OE DIABROTICA. 77 
less noticeable than they would be if the species were a more dainty 
feeder. The truck growers in the valley view this species as an 
unavoidable evil and make little effort to combat it. They have no 
distinctive name for it, and it is not unusual to hear it mentioned as 
"spotted green-bug," "tomato bug," "pumpkin bug," or "ladybug." 
FOOD PLANTS. 
This beetle is primarily a truck crop pest and has been observed 
actually feeding on string beans, lima beans, English broad beans, 
tomatoes, potatoes, eggplant, pepper, turnip, peas, peanuts, squash, 
cantaloupe, cucumber, watermelon, pumpkin, okra, spinach, beets, 
lettuce, asparagus, and sweet corn. Among field crops attacked are 
corn, sorghum, alfalfa, cotton, cowpea, soy bean, and vetch, and 
Desmodium tortuosum. There is one recorded instance of its injuring 
tender fig and orange leaves and it was found feeding on the foliage 
of Sesbania aculeata and Cajanus indicus and on the blossoms of 
Dolichos atropurpureus. A favorite wild food plant is Verbesina 
encelioides. The beetles gather in great numbers on exposed tubers 
of Ibervillea lindheimeri and more rarely feed on Amaranthus retro- 
flexus and A. spinosus. They also feed on the blossoms and foliage of 
Solanum elseagnifolium and Helianthus. 
CHARACTER OF INJURY. 
Among the truck crops mentioned beans of several varieties are 
often seriously injured, many blossoms being destroyed, and some- 
times young and tender plants are entirely killed. With eggplant, 
tomatoes, and cucurbits, not only are the foliage and blossoms 
attacked, but the unopened blossom buds are eaten into and thus 
many incipient fruits are destroyed. Injury is particularly severe 
with eggplant, where many blossoms are ruined. The silk and 
unripe kernels, as well as foliage, of corn are eaten and the young 
corn plants are often badly riddled. 
The larvae were found feeding on corn, sorghum, and string beans. 
In the case of corn and sorghum they feed on the larger roots and bore 
into the crown, while with beans they scrape the main stalk below the 
surface of the soil. Injury by the larvae did not seem serious with 
any plants on which they were found. 
RECORDS OF OCCURRENCE. 
During the middle of January, 1909, a freeze occurred in the lower 
Rio Grande valley which killed practically all tender vegetation, except 
in sheltered spots. On January 25 a good-sized patch of Verbesina 
encelioides that had escaped freezing was thickly infested with the 
adults, which were feeding eagerly. 
About twenty nearly mature larvae were found February 5 feeding 
at the roots of scfrghum at Harlingen, Tex. These were placed in 
