274 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY 



guta Ait. is yearly ravaged by a little chrysomelid beetle, which 

 attacks it soon after the appearance of its foliage above ground, 

 both larvae and beetles cutting out large holes in the leaves, which 

 become still larger with the plant's growth. 



The beetle in question is Galerucella americana Fab., a ro 

 bust little light brown species with its elytra lined with black and 

 resembling the congeneric imported elm leaf-beetle, G. luteola 

 Mull. (= xanthomelcena Schr.). Last summer this insect oc 

 curred in such abundance just above the Virginia shores of the 

 Potomac opposite Georgetown that it was next to impossible to 

 find a plant of this species of Solidago that had not been attacked 

 by the beetle. It was almost equally difficult at the time of this 

 observation to find the larvae and, when found, to carry them 

 safely over the larval stage. During the first days of June full- 

 sized larvae were observed and all that could be found taken home 

 for rearing. After searching many plants that showed the char 

 acteristic large holes eaten out by this species and finding four 

 specimens, I discovered the cause of their scarcity in a fungoid 

 disease, which manifested itself in patches of mould of the size 

 of the larvae and dispersed about on the under-side of the leaves. 

 All but a few of the larvae taken at this time were light straw- 

 yellow in color, and all thus colored died, some within a few 

 hours after capture. They usually succumb to this disease upon 

 arriving at maturity, but a few died at a younger age. In a very 

 few hours after death ensues, the larvae become flattened and lose 

 all semblance to their former selves. 



Specimens of the diseased larvae were shown to Mr. B. T. 

 Galloway, Chief of the Division of Vegetable Pathology in the 

 Department of Agriculture, who doubtfully referred the fungus 

 to Empusa sphcerosperma, a common species which often pro 

 duces epidemics among various insects. The infected larvae were 

 found along the border of a shaded pathway, and it is not im 

 probable that the shade may have afforded the most suitable con 

 ditions for the propagation of the fungus. At any rate, in an 

 adjoining meadow more exposed to sunlight, larvae were found 

 free from infection. One of these, confined in a rearing jar, was 

 found to have formed its cocoon on the morning of June 1 1 . It 

 pupated June 15, and the imago developed on the 22d, this in 

 dividual having passed seven days as pupa. A second developed 

 in six days, in extremely warm weather, June 2026. The adult 

 remains a few days in the pupal case and after issuing requires a 

 few days longer for its outer chitinous parts to harden. 



The new brood of 1894 began to appear June 14 and by the i yth 

 the most of those found had fully matured. A good series was 

 collected and fed, but no attempt at copulation was noticed, nor 

 were any more larvae found after June, from which facts it is 



