30 
in \ Oliuiii' \ of the Aineri<*an Naturalist (p. -19), where it is described 
under the name Tavhina {Mehoiosphora) didhrotica', Celatoria crawii 
Co(|., described and ll^urcd from specimens reared in California from 
l>uihr<ttivii snror (Insect Life, \'()1. II, pp. 2'SS-2'M) is a synonym. This 
l);irasitc has also been reared IVoin J), rj-punvtata. 
TlIK TWKLVE-SPOTTKl) CUCUMBER BEETLE OB SOUTHEKN CORN 
KOOT-WURM. 
( lHahroticu l:?-punrtaia Ol.j 
Inci(U'ntaI to the occurrence of this species with the jireceding a few 
observations on the e^gs and eji^ij period and on the habits of the Insect 
were made and will be mentioned. 
May S, two females were noticed unusually distended with e^-gs, and 
an effort was consecpiently made to ascertain the complement that 
mi«;lit be laid. The lirst individual was confined in a vial that evening, 
and the following morning l.'>5 eggs were found, mostly in large masses 
and evidently laid in strings. The beetles were transferred to another 
vial, and by May 13 had deposited 1(5 more eggs in one mass. The 
second was found to have laid 105 eggs May 13, mostly in small masses 
of from two to a dozen or more, and a few days later 1)7 more were 
counted, a total of 20li. 
Eggs hatched in to 7 days in cool weather in the lirst two weeks of 
May. 
It may be remembered that Mr. Pergande has been i)laced on record 
(Insect Life, Vol. IV, p. 107) as authority for the observation that the 
beetle feeds uj)on the leaves cf horse nettle {Solauum (nrolinense). Can 
it be possible that the larva also feeds upon solanaceous plants f I 
hardly believe so. and yet on August 18 of the present year I found at 
Glen Kcho, Md., at the roots of a plant of Jamestown weed {Datura 
stramonium) a pui>a wliich, to my surprise, developed into this species. 
The weed grew in a field of corn, and it would seem more probable that 
this was the food plant of this larva which had strayed for pupation. 
On the I'oth of August Mr. F.O.Pratt found in the suburbs of Wash- 
ington a larva of this species in the soil about the roots of the pigweed, 
Amarantua rctrofiexus. No corn grew in the vicinity, and if this larva 
had not fed at the roots of the Amarantus it had probably come from 
some wild grass. 
The larva' or ])upa* of this beetle have been taken by diflerent 
observers about the roots of various other plants, among which are 
recorded wheat, Pudbeckia, and the sedges ot the genera Oyi)erus and 
Sciipus. The sedges, at least, appear U) be natural larval food plants, 
Imt further investigation will doubtless prove that the si)ecies breeds 
on vai ions plants in addition to the Cyperacte and Gramineic. It has 
not hecn found ui)on cucumber or other cucurbits except in the adult 
condition, and if it breeds upon these plants it nuist be exceptional; 
hence the name of twelve-spotted cucumber beetle should give way to 
the more api)ropiiate one of southern corn root-worm. The species is 
