59 
All the above are injurious to corn, only parvulus affecting small 
grain and timothy also, and ochreus attacking both corn and mil¬ 
let. All damage corn in the same way, piercing the young plant 
in early spring with their beaks, and chewing and devouring the 
soft interior tissue. This gives rise to an appearance, as the leaA es 
unfold, of parallel oblong holes extending across the leaf, due to 
the fact that the >oung leaf has been several times punctured by 
one thrust of the insect’s beak. Where the injury is severe, the 
growing tip of the plant is killed, or the. stalk is dwarfed and does 
not mature the ear, or the whole plant is killed outright. 
ANALYSIS OF LITERATURE.* 
Under this head I give, for the benefit of those who do not 
have access to the literature of economic entomology, an analytic¬ 
al synopsis of published matter relating to the species of Sphe- 
nophorus occurring in Illinois in numbers sufficient to make their 
known or probable injuries a matter of importance. 
The Genus Sphenophorus. This genus, first distinguished and 
described in 1837 by Schonherr (5-874), was restricted by Dr. 
Horn, in 1873, by the removal of Metamasius (23-411); and again 
by LeConte in 1876 by the separation of. Bhodobsenus and Cac- 
tophagus (28—331). It was last described in 188o by LeConte and 
Horn in their “Classification of North American Coleoptera” (47), 
where its distinctive characters and distribution are given. 
Besides the general mention of the species in the catalogues and 
check lists of the Coleoptera of North America (/, 22, 37, 52),. 
record of the Kansas species was made by Popenoe ancl by Snow 
in 1876 (26, 27); of the Florida species by Schwarz (31), 
and of those of Michigan by Hubbard and Schwarz in 1878 (32- 
642, 665); of those of Cincinnati and vicinity by Dury in 1879 
(33); and of the species of Ottawa, Canada, by Harrington m 
1884 (49). 
Townend Glover (United States Entomologist) made, in 1854 
(8), the first mention of the genus as injurious to crops, describ¬ 
ing an injury to corn in South Carolina, Alabama, and Arkansas 
by some undetermined species (probably robustus). He records 
the appearance of the beetle in spring, the place of deposition of 
the egg, the habits and place of pupation of the larva, and the 
nature and amount of injury to corn,—most serious on swamp lands. 
Their numbers were apparently diminished by plowing up and 
burning stubble and roots of corn. This article was afterwards 
abstracted by Lintner in his First Beport as State Entomologist 
of New York (46-260), and by Biley in the “American Naturalist’ 
(41). In 1863 (14) Glover adds the suggestion of hand picking 
as a practical remedy. 
S. ochreus , Lee. (The Clay-colored Bill Bug). This species 
but recently known as injurious, has not been mentioned hitherto 
-—----—- 
* Figures in parenthesis refer to bibliography at close of article. 
