XI 
the first imago (a female) emerged October 9; a male, October 10. 
October 16, two more females appeared and another male; October 
23, another male; October 26, three males and a female; October 
27, one female and three males. On a final search in the cage, 
made November 12, a female was found dead, with eggs near her. 
Compared with our previous record, as presented in the Fifteenth 
Report and in my Office Bulletin No. 3, these data merely bring 
the appearance of this autumnal brood about ten days earlier. An 
attempt to secure fertilized eggs and rear larvae from the imagos 
hatched as above, failed,—probably because the small number of 
specimens reared and their scattered appearance prevented copulation. 
Another dipterous insect (a tipulid larva), brought to the 
front in a new relation by the drouths of 1886 and 188/, was 
first obtained by us from meadows in Edwards. county in the fall 
of 1886, wdiere it had shared largely, at least, in the destruction 
of a field of clover. The feeding habits of this species, and the 
extent of its injuries were made out by us in 1887, as will appear 
in the body of this report. 
The same conditions which encouraged the multiplication of 
web worms in 1887 and 1888 gave rise during the former year to 
an extraordinary number of white grubs, especially in lawns. 
Experiments made at this time on the University lawn demonstrated 
the possibility of killing the grubs in the earth by a free use of 
the kerosene emulsion, but at an expense considered excessive by 
the horticultural foreman. This standard species is rapidly rising 
in importance as a corn insect in Central Illinois, evidently breed¬ 
ing freely in corn, as shown by our own observations and by cor¬ 
respondents’ reports. A general destruction of the beetles by 
light-traps will probably be necessary in some of the worst infested 
districts. 
Among minor injuries by beetles we noticed a habit—not hitherto 
reported—of one of the lady bugs, Anatis 15-punctata , which was re¬ 
peatedly observed burying itself in the pulp of ripe cherries on 
the trees. 
Another coleopterous species detected in a new mischief is the 
pale striped flea beetle, Systena blanda, sent us from Southern 
Illinois as the most common and destructive melon insect. 
From granaries and elevators at Shawneetown, at Albion, and in 
Central Illinois, I received during the fall of 1887 several lots of an 
insect larva reported as destructive to stored grain. This proved to 
belong to a species of beetle (Tenebrioides maurUanica ) of the 
family Trogositidse, mentioned in the earlier reports of this series 
by both LeBaron and Thomas, and by them regarded as carnivo¬ 
rous only—a conclusion in which they followed eminent European 
authorities. Our observations show, however, that this supposi¬ 
tion is an error, as the larvae placed in confinement in boxes of 
