FIELD BOOK OF INSECTS. 



Head, scutellum, and under side of body 

 trifurcata black; pronotum and elytra dull yellow, 



rarely reddish; each elytron, usually but 

 not always, with black basal and side margins, the latter 

 extending nearly to the apex, and with three black spots 

 close to the suture, the hind one the smallest; antenna) 

 and the legs yellow, the tibias and often the femora, in 

 part, black; length about .17 in. Common on peas, beans, 

 and other Legumes. 



Halticini 



s 



"A large group of small or medium-sized leaf -eating 

 forms, distinguished from the preceding tribe mainly 

 by the fact that the hind thighs are greatly enlarged and 

 thickened for leaping. As a consequence they are known 

 as 'flea-beetles' or 'jumping beetles,' this term being 

 especially applied to the small black species of Haltica and 

 Epitrix, which are very injurious to vegetation in the 

 mature or adult stage." 



(Edionycliis (last joint of^hind tarsi globosely swollen). 

 Haltica (a feeble transverse impression on basal half of 

 pronotum; each hind tibia with a short, terminal spur), 

 Disonycha (first joint of hind tarsus short as compared 

 with the tibias, and rather broad; beetles distinctly more 

 than .17 in. long), and Phyllotreta have the frontal coxae 

 open behind. 



The following two are the garden species. 

 Disonycha . , , , -,/-, ? i -, , 



D. tnangulans: black (with a faint bluish 



tinge on elytra) except for the pronotum, which is yellow 

 with a pair of round, black spots and a small, linear one; 

 length, about .25 in.; on a variety of plants, sometimes 

 injurious to beets and spinach. D. xanthomclcena: re- 

 sembles the preceding but, among other things, is usually 

 smaller, has the pronotum entirely yellow, the elytra with 

 a greenish tinge, and the abdomen yellow; it feeds upon a 

 number of wild plants but is known as the Spinach Flea- 

 beetle. 



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