316 NATURAL HISTORY OF ARTHROPODS. 



thorax with two round, black spots each side of the middle, and dull yellow elytra 

 with sutural and marginal black line from their bases to their tips, and a black line 

 extending from the base to near the tip upon the middle of each elytron. This species 

 is dull red with black markings beneath. (Edionychis differs from Disonycha in hav- 

 ing the last joint of the posterior tarsi globosely inflated at the tip. (Edionychis 

 thoracica has deep blue elytra, yellowish head and epipleurae ; eyes and antennae are 

 black, and the yellowish prothorax bears a few black spots. Blepharida rhois is a yel- 

 lowish beetle above with brown blotches on the elytra, which latter are also punctate 

 with dark brown dots. The eyes, antennae, legs, and under side of the abdomen are 

 dark brown. Its length is about 0.25 inch ; its antennae are set wider apart than in 

 most flea-beetles, resembling, in this respect, Chrysomela, from which it is readily dis- 

 tinguished by its thickened thighs. Its eggs are deposited, five or six together, 

 beneath pellets of its excrement. Its yellowish larva which is, like the beetles, abund- 

 ant on leaves of sumach (Ithus), covers itself with its own excrement by means of its 

 extensible anus. The larva is broader than the larvae of other saltatorial Chrysome- 

 lidae, thus approaching the form of larva in the genus Chrysomela. 



Structurally similar to the larger flea-beetles, and like them having the antennre 

 set in close approximation between the eyes, but separated from them by their slender 

 femora, are the genera Diabrotica and Galeruca; the species of the former genus 

 have a carinate front, while those of the latter have a flat front with an impressed 

 median line. 



Galeruca xanthomelcena is a species introduced into America from Europe, accord- 

 ing to Townend Glover, as early as 1837, and does considerable damage to the elm in 

 both countries. The beetle is about 0.25 inch long, oblong, brownish yellow or yel- 

 low, marked with black as follows: one or two spots on the head, three on the pro- 

 notum, and, on the elytra, a very narrow sutural line, outside of which, on each side, is 

 a broad stripe not reaching the apices of the elytra. The yellow, oblong-oval eggs 

 are deposited on the under side of the leaves in groups of from three to twenty or 

 more. The egg state lasts about a week. The larvae, of which the first brood appears 

 in May, are nearly cylindrical, yellowish black with black markings ; they change their 

 skin three times after leaving the egg before pupation, thus having four larval stages, 

 which last ordinarily about two weeks, but under especially favorable conditions only 

 six or eight days. The pupa is oval, with a few conspicuous black bristles, and is 

 found in crevices of bark or of the ground, or on the ground beneath leaves. The 

 pupal state requires from six to ten days. There are three or four broods yearly, 

 according to climate. The beetles of the last brood hibernate, and the few survivors 

 of the winter lay the eggs for the first brood early the next spring. Both larvae and 

 imagos feed upon the elm, partly skeletonizing its leaves, but of course the greater 

 part of the damage is done by the larvae. Each successive brood is usually larger and 

 more destructive than the preceding one, but the majority of the last brood each year 

 is killed by the frost of winter. In Austria the larva, as well as the imagos, are said 

 to hibernate. Dr. C. V. Riley, who has investigated this species in Washington, D. C., 

 writes of its enemies: "Among these there are Platynus punctiformis and Quedius 

 molochinus, which feed on the full-grown larvae when these retire for pupation, and 

 also on the pupa?. The larva of a Chrysopa (probably C. rufilabris} feeds upon the 

 eggs of the Galeruca ; Reduvius novenarius sucks both beetles and larvae on the leaves, 

 while Mantis Carolina preys upon the beetle. Of the numerous other insects found 

 among the pupaa under the trees, e, g., Tachyporus jocosus, sundry spiders, myria- 



