76 
Another, taKen in a different place, in Jnly, 1885, contained pre¬ 
cisely the same food as the preceding. These specimens were 
evidently eating the anthers of the plants on which they were 
found. 
C Examples of Epiccerus imbricatus , sent to the office May 29, 
1885, as injurious to the foliage of the pear, were found by ex¬ 
periment to feed freely upon pear leaves, and also to lay their 
eggs upon these leaves, conceaf^g their deposit by gumming an¬ 
other leaf to the surface. Specimens of this beetle obtained in a 
sweet-potato field May 28, 1888, were found by dissection to have 
fed chiefly upon leaves of grass, and possibly also on some other 
parallel-veined vegetation. Confined with blue grass and Setaria 
(pigeon grass) in a breeding cage, the former was not touched, 
but the latter was freely eaten, circular notches beiug bitten out 
of the edges of the narrow leaves. Three pairs were noted in 
copula between May 28 and June 6, but no eggs were obtained, 
and the beetles, refusing to feed, gradually died. 
An example of Lixus concavus found on weeds July 7, 1885, 
had the stomach empty, but the intestines filled with vegetable 
tissues, nearly all spiral vessels,—the undigested residue of the 
leaves of plants. Another specimen, taken from wild sunflower 
(Helianthus) August 28, had the crop filled with leaf structures, 
mostly jointed hairs, many of them with inflated bases. Occasion¬ 
ally a portion of leaf surface was seen covered with hairs of this 
description;^ and a considerable quantity of spiral tissue likewise 
occurred. This beetle had seemingly been gnawing off the stout 
hairs from the surface of the leaf.* 
Finding my horticultural friends who wished to experiment with 
the arsenical poisons for the destruction of curculios' (Conotrache- 
lus nenuphar) on the peach and plum in doubt as to the feeding 
habits of the adult, and uncertain, therefore, whether the species 
was^ subject to poisoning by this .method, I confined with leaves 
of the plum in June a number of living specimens. The next day 
one was observed making a deep oblong excavation in the mid-vein 
of the leaf, similar work being apparent on the other veins and 
on the petioles and stems. The beetles were also eating the sur¬ 
faces of the leaves, but, less generally. Later, many small holes 
were made through the leaves, especially the younger terminal ones. 
In July, removing the leaves and substituting green plums, I pres¬ 
ently found these peppered with cavities, some of which contained 
eggs, and others not. When both leaves and green fruit were of¬ 
fered the beetles, both were eaten, — the fruit, perhaps, most freely. 
I need hardly add that experiments with poison were entirely suc¬ 
cessful. 
*Lixus terminalis we bred this season from larvae found in the stems of smartweed (Polygo¬ 
num Pennsylvania/m) July 34, eggs occurring at the same rime. These beetles emerged from 
Aug. 25 to 28. 
