THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST 



THE CHRYSOMELIANS OF ONTARIO. 



BY F. 1. A. MORRIS, PETERBORO', ONT. 



(Continued from Vol. XLV, p. 392.) 

 On these same raspberry leaves is often found a small yellow 

 beetle with black thorax ornamented by two white spots; it fre- 

 quents many other leaves besides, such as basswood and hazel, but 

 it is most abundant on raspberry. It is Bassareus luteipennis, the 

 first of seven genera that constitute Tribe VI. These seven genera 

 contain over 100 species, about 50 being found in Ontario. 

 Three of the genera, containing over 35 species, are represented 

 right in this wood. Bassareus on the raspberry, Cryptocephalus 

 quadrimaculatus (the size of the insect as usual in inverse proportion 

 to its name) on the young shoots of white pine where the needles 

 are soft, and Pachybrachys on the willow shrubs at the lower end 

 of the wood. The members of this tribe are small, sometimes 

 minute, and stoutly cylindrical in shape, what we would call 

 "chunky" — indeed, Pachybrachys (the Greek for "thick-short") is 

 only a grand name for "chunky." Some of the species of Cryptoce- 

 phalus (which means "hidden head") are very pretty, especially 

 venustus, which I have found on the blossom of the mellow-daisy, 

 and mutabilis taken on birch and spiraea. 



As we walk back to the road that we left at- Mose Robinson's, 

 we can collect no less than 5 genera of the next or Vllth Tribe. 

 In the hollow at the north-east of the wood, where the clump of 

 willow and dogwood grows, you will find Xanthonia on the leaves 

 of the former and Adoxu's on those of the latter; the first a small 

 and the second a medium-sized beetle, closely resembling each 

 other in shape and general colour; about the trunk and limbs of 

 that newly-felled pine on the bank, Glyploscelis, a fairly large 

 beetle, metallic brown in colour, but looking lighter from its pu- 

 bescence; on the common Dogbane (Apocynum androscemifolium) 

 you will find Chrysochus aureus, a large dazzlingly brilliant bluish- 

 green beetle; it is said to feed on Indian hemp (Apocynum canna- 

 binum) and on Milkweed (Asclepias), but I have never found it on 

 any milkweed nor on any other species of Dogbane than the com- 

 mon, sweet-scented species with pinkish blossoms; Apocynum can- 

 nabinum has greenish-white blossoms and no scent; as the Dogbane 

 is filled with a white milky juice just as abundant as that of the 



• __'.January, 1014 



