23 
jood deal of lagweed was still green, and they were chiefly gathered 
ipon this. J-lie contents of the stomachs of these four specimens 
(onsisted partly of vegetable tissues which could not be precisely 
letermined, but made about four-tenths 'of their food, while pollen 
)f\ swart weed amounted to twenty-five per cent. The remaining 
hirty-five per cent, consisted, however, of spores of fungi of the 
ands ordinarily taken by lady-bugs (Ooccinellidffl). Helmmthospo- 
ium amounted to^ about ten per cent., Uredo spores to seventeen 
md lichen (?) spores to seven, while traces of Cladosporium and 
ieptona likewise occurred. Even in a specimen taken from the tip 
>f an ear of corn, about fifteen per cent, of the food was made up 
>f these fungi, the remainder, of course, consisting of the corn it- 
elf. 
ihe alimentary canals of all these beetles contained large numbers 
>f minute parasites, belonging to the genus Gregarina, one of the 
lotozoans. As these had not been seen m any of the earlier speci¬ 
mens examined, they doubtless indicated the decline of the beetle, 
jnd foreshadowed its disappearance for the year. 
In three specimens taken from clover blossoms on the ISth of this 
:aonth, the pollen and fragments of the petals of clover made about 
: ixty per cent* of the food, and the remainder consisted of spores 
jjf fungi, including Peronospora, Ustilago and Cladosporium. In 
hese latter specimens the intestines were literally alive with para¬ 
des, a single beetle often containing hundreds of them. 
From the above it is evident that this insect can find an abund- 
nce of food upon dead and decaying vegetation, as the fungi eaten 
y the specimens last examined were the common molds occurring 
pon such tissues ) and all attempts to limit its life by depriving 
Ipe beetle of food, will doubtless be unavailing. 
It is in fact, even a more general feeder than the notes just given 
ould indicate, as it has been seen feeding upon the cucumber vine, 
nd also upon beans; while a letter from Mr. Lattin, of DeKalb 
Dunty, reports that he has found it eating into apples in his orchard, 
pparently taking advantage of punctures in the skin made by 
I ther insects, but enlarging these openings so as seriously to damage 
l ie fruit. This same fact has likewise been reported to me from 
i rundy county, where the adult beetle is believed to eat its way 
ito thin-skinned apples without the assistance of other insects. 
r 
\ Egg —Until the present season, the eggs of this beetle had not 
een seen; neither was the time or place of oviposition known. 
k ne correspondent reported as early as the 25th of September that 
; 3 had found them at the base of the leaf of the corn, between the 
death and the stalk; but these eggs were lost before any oppor- 
mity was had to compare them with known eggs of Eiabrotica; 
id, as they were found in the midst of minute dipterous larvae of 
arious ages, (taken at the time for the corn root-worm) and as the 
muine eggs of the beetle could not be found afterwards in that 
tuation, notwithstanding a protracted search made in various 
tuations by several observers, (although dipterous larvae were 
mndant there) it will scarcely be wise to conclude that the beetle 
ys its eggs above ground until this observation has been verified. 
