46 
CORN. 
nr 
a light line running down the middle of the back,* and beneath this 
transverse divided patch, on the side of each segment, there were two 
spots : all the segments, excepting that next to the head and the tail- 
segment, were of about one length, this being less than their breadth. 
The caudal segment was furnished above with two tubercular or spiny 
processes, and beneath with a sucker-like protuberance. The general 
colour of the grub, excepting in the patches, was whitish, and there 
were a few good-sized bristles on the body. 
As it is next to impossible to identify an immature grub without 
personal knowledge of the kind, I ventured to write to Dr. E. L. 
Taschenberg, of Halle, Germany, as one of the highest authorities on 
Economic Entomology, and likewise as having especially studied and 
described the attack, as well as the larva, of the Zabrus gibbus. He 
was good enough to examine my specimen (which I had sent on a 
microscope-slide with a covering-glass over it), and replied to me that 
in the form of the fore part of the body, as displayed, and likewise the 
method in which the grub injured the young Wheat, it differed from 
that of Z. gibbus; but the arrangement of the plate on the back 
(“ Chitin-shield”), and the form of the extremity of the body, exactly 
corresponded. 
Dr. Taschenberg considered that the pressure of the covering-glass 
might account for the fore part of the body being somewhat altered in 
shape, and the method of life of the young larvae might not be 
precisely the same as when full-grown; consequently he inclined to 
think my specimen was of immature Zabrus gibbus larva, but before 
speaking with certainty he wished for full-grown specimens. These, 
however, I was never fortunate enough to procure ; but as this grub, 
unless killed, lives for three years, it may re-appear again on some of 
the infested localities, and if so, I should be glad of further specimens 
for identification. 
Dr. Taschenberg was good enough to give me a type-specimen; 
therefore, I should hope to have no difficulty in identifying fully- 
developed samples. 
The figures 2 and 3 at the head of this paper show the appearance 
of the larva. The habit of life is stated to be for the grub to go down 
beneath the surface of the ground in the day, and in the evening or 
night to feed on the young plant. 
It is mentioned by Kollar that it eats into the stem at the surface 
of the earth, “ and revels in the pith within.” Dr. Taschenberg, in 
his more detailed description, notes that, from the small size of the 
moutli-opening, the grub lives rather by crushing the plant and 
* It is noted by Dr. Taschenberg that after death the larva appears to have the 
stripe along its back uninterrupted, and this I notice to be the case here. 
