118 
Genus Coccinella. 
Six specimens of this genus were studied, three of C. 9-notata, 
and three of C. 5-notata. All were from Central Illinois except one, 
which was from Jacksonville. Excluding the last, the ratio of ani¬ 
mal food eaten by these specimens was not far from two-thirds of 
the total, all plant-lice. Only a trace of pollen of Composite was 
noticed in one of the insects. Fungus spores amounted to thirty 
two per cent., (about half Helminlhosporium and Ustilago), and 
lichen spores to four per cent. The Jacksonville specimen had 
eaten only fungi. 
Genus Cycloneda. 
In the corn-field with the chinch-bugs, three specimens of C. san¬ 
guined were collected, which had eaten plant-lice,^ pollen of Com¬ 
posite, lichen spores and spores of fungi. The first made about 
one-third of their food, the pollen grains were estimated at nearly 
half, and lichen spores at three per cent. The eighteen per cent, of 
fungi were of the usual character. 
the family as a unit. 
A summary and comparison of the food of these two groups, taken 
singly without reference to their genera, develops some interesting 
and unexpected facts. Although the corn-field in which the second 
collection was made was teeming with insects of the kinds especially 
tempting to the Coccinellidse, and although these beetles themselves 
were there in truly surprising numbers, it is not easy to believe, 
considering the tables upon which this discussion is based, that the 
Coccinellidse were attracted to the field by the abundance of insects 
available for their food. The beetles of the first group are seen to 
have eaten nearly twice as many insects as those torn the field of 
corn, while the fungi eaten were as thirty-six to fifty-six respectively. 
Only eighteen specimens were dissected, out of the large number 
collected in the corn-field, but the contents of their stomachs were 
of so uniform a character that there was every reason to suppose 
that they illustrated correctly the food of the family at that time 
and place. It would therefore seem possible that these beetles were 
attracted rather by the stores of fungi in the field, than by the 
cliinch-bugs and Aphides. The condition of the leaves and stalks 
of the corn, drained and deadened by insect depredations, was such 
as to afford an excellent nidus for the development of those fungi 
which spring up everywhere spontaneously upon dead and decaying 
vegetation, and these were in fact extremely abundant. An alterna¬ 
tive explanation is perhaps more probable. The condition of the 
field gave abundant evidence that the plant-lice had been very much 
more numerous some time before; and it is possible that, as a con¬ 
sequence of this decrease of food, and the increase of the Coccinel- 
lide themselves, the latter had reached an excessive number, for 
which the supply of plant-lice was really insufficient, and that for 
this reason they had resorted to fungi. 
The chinch-bugs taken by the specimens of the second group 
amounted to only eight per cent, of their entire food, and plant-lice 
to fourteen per cent.—less than half those taken by the other spec- 
