22 
On the 9th, Dr. Boardman saw them flying quite actively at El¬ 
mira, and is confident that he has seen a few under rubbish as late 
as December in former years. 
The above data may be briefly summarized as follows: The 
beetle makes its first appearance in the adult stage about the. middle 
of June, and may then be found continuously in gradually increas¬ 
ing numbers through July, August and September, most abundantly at 
first upon the corn, where it feeds upon the pollen and silk at the 
tip of the ear (occasionally also upon the kernel), but afterwards 
deserting the cornstalks for the blossoms of the fresher weeds in the 
field. As these fail, through frost or over-ripeness, it takes to the 
latest roadside flowers and clover and the like, now rapidly dimin¬ 
ishing in number, and in November almost wholly disappearing. 
Numerous observations, made in all suitable situations, render it 
extremely improbable that any considerable number of hibernating 
individuals should have escaped our attention. While here and 
there a specimen may survive the winter, it is certain that, in years 
like the present, they perish, as a rule, in autumn. 
For the purpose of determining more exactly the food resources 
open to the adult, careful dissections were made of numerous speci¬ 
mens taken from a great variety of plants at various dates through¬ 
out the season, and the contents of their stomachs and intestines 
were studied critically with a microscope. This was found especially 
necessary, since it is often extremely difficult to tell precisely what 
an insect is feeding upon; and many mistaken inferences have been 
based upon inaccurate observations of this sort. It has been in¬ 
ferred, for example, that the beetle was chiefly dependent upon the 
pollen and other floral organs of ragweed, and that clean cul-. 
tivation in the field and by the roadside would greatly reduce their 
numbers. An examination of the following notes will show, how¬ 
ever, that it is not limited to fresh or living vegetation, but may 
find an abundant food supply when all such sustenance is with¬ 
drawn, and that the measure recommended may well have an inju¬ 
rious effect, especially as far as clean culture is concerned, by com¬ 
pelling the beetles to leave the field before their eggs have been 
deposited. In this event we should be deprived of the .only means 
of arresting their ravages which has hitherto been hit upon, as 
will be seen later when methods of remedy and prevention are dis¬ 
cussed. 
In two specimens taken from the blossoms of the thistle on the 
20th of August, only the pollen of that plant was found. Two others 
from the corn-field, September 4, were crammed with the pollen of 
corn and fragments of the silk. Two taken on thistles on the 7th 
of September had eaten only the pollen of that species; and those 
taken upon ragweed and swartweed, September 9, contained nothing 
but the pollen of those plants. 
As the season progressed, however, a remarkable change occurred 
in the character of the food, and in the condition of the beetles 
themselves. Four specimens were dissected from a large number 
obtained by sweeping the weeds in the corn-field on the 7th of No¬ 
vember. At this time most of the beetles had left the corn, but a 
