. Circular. Insects. 2 around Ohambersburg, but not disastrously so. It has not been reported at all from the vicinity of Washington, D. C. It is certainly not seriously injurious in the New England States at the present time, and Dr. Fletcher reports a similar state of affairs in Ontario, Canada, while in Ohio, West Virginia, Indiana, and southern Michigan it is becoming more and more destructive. DESCRIPTION OF THE INSECT. The fully developed insect is a small, dark-brown, hard-bodied bee- tle, shown enlarged in figure 1. The larva, or grub, shown enlarged in figure 2, is about an eighth of
. Circular. Insects. 2 around Ohambersburg, but not disastrously so. It has not been reported at all from the vicinity of Washington, D. C. It is certainly not seriously injurious in the New England States at the present time, and Dr. Fletcher reports a similar state of affairs in Ontario, Canada, while in Ohio, West Virginia, Indiana, and southern Michigan it is becoming more and more destructive. DESCRIPTION OF THE INSECT. The fully developed insect is a small, dark-brown, hard-bodied bee- tle, shown enlarged in figure 1. The larva, or grub, shown enlarged in figure 2, is about an eighth of an inch long, dingy white, with honey-yellow head and brown jaws. The pupa (fig. 3), is even smaller than the larva, also dingy white, with two minute spinous projections on the top of the head and two some- what larger ones at the anal extremity. The eggs are elliptical, white, and minute, yet large enough to be seen with the unaided Fig. 2.—Hylastinus obscurus: Larva or grub—much en- larged (original). LIFE HISTORY. There is certainly but one generation annually, though this appears to be long drawn out, and scattering individual larva? and pupae may be found throughout every month of the year. The finding of eggs as late as September 18 has been reported from Michigan. As a rule, however, the insects pass the winter in the adult stage (fig. 1) within the roots where they developed. During May they abandon the old roots and seek out fresh plants or fields in which to lay their eggs. The eggs are mostly de- posited between the middle of May and June 20. The female gouges out a shallow cavity, more often in the crown of the plant, sometimes at the sides of the root even 2 or 3 inches below the crown, and in this places, singly, but not far separated, about half a dozen pale, whitish, elliptical, very minute eggs. These hatch in about a week, and the larva? (fig. 2) for a time feed in the excavation made by the mother, but soon burrow downward into the root, and before
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, bookpublishe, booksubjectinsects
