Beetles 



281 



fruit and leaves; Crepidodera cucumeris, the cucumber flea-beetle, ^ inch 

 long, and black, attacks melons, cucumbers, and other vegetables. The 

 tortoise-beetles (Fig. 389) are curiously shaped, flat below, convex above, and 

 with the prothorax and elytra thinly margined so as to give them a tortoise-like 

 appearance from above ; they are usually iridescent greenish and golden in color, 

 and are often called goldbugs. The colors appear and disappear strangely 

 while the insects are alive, but are always lacking in the dead specimen. 

 Coptocycla clavata has two projections of the central dark color of each 

 elytron looking like the four short broad legs of a tortoise; Cassida tricolor 

 is like "a drop of burnished gold"; Chelymorpha argus, f inch long, brick- 

 red with many black spots on prothorax and elytra, is found on milkweeds; 

 Physonota unipunctata, % inch long, the largest of our tortoise-beetles, yellow 

 with whitish margins, is common in midsummer on wild sunflowers. 



The small family Bruchidae contains two common and important beetles, 

 viz., the pea-weevil, Bruchus pisi (Fig. 390), and the bean-weevil, B. 

 obtectus (Fig. 391). The adult pea-weevil is \ inch long, general color rusty 

 or grayish black with a small white spot on the thorax. The eggs are small, 

 fusiform, and yellow. The grubs on hatching bore through the pod into 

 the peas. The hole made in the growing pea soon closes up, leaving 

 the voracious larva within. Here it often comes to an untimely end, 

 which is uncomfortable to think about. If, however, the peas are 

 allowed to ripen and are put away for seed, it eats on until there is 



FIG. 390. FIG. 391. 



FIG. 390. The pea-weevil, Bruchus pisi, and an infested pea. (Natural size of beetle 



indicated by line.) 

 FIG. 391. The bean-weevil, Bruchus obtectus, and an infested bean. (Natural size 



of beetle indicated by line.) 



only a shell left of the pea. Weeviled peas are unfit for food, and, as 

 proved by the experiments of Professor Popenoe, should not be used for 

 seed. During the fall and winter the larvae pupate and finally mature as 

 weevils (the adult beetles). Some of the beetles emerge from the peas, 

 while others remain in them until they are planted. 



