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VOL. XXVI. 



LONDON, NOVEMBER, 1894. 



No. II. 



THE COLEOPTERA OF CANADA. 



BY H. F. WICKHAM, IOWA CITY, IOWA. 



V. The Coccinellid^ of Ontario and Quebec. 



This family includes a moderate number of beetles, usually of com- 

 pact, convex and often more or less hemispherical form, coloured as a 

 rule in striking patterns of yellows or reds and black. In most cases 

 the surface is glabrous, though in Scymnus and some less extensive genera 

 it may be plainly pubescent. Technically, the family may be known by 

 the clavate antennae, the three-jointed tarsi with dilated second joint and the 

 partially membranous dorsal abdominal segments ; the ventral segments 

 are free, the first usually with coxal lines, and the claws ordinarily appen- 

 diculate or toothed. It will, however, seldom be necessary to recur to 

 these characters in the study of a limited fauna such as is presented by 

 East Canada, as the facies is usually such as to render the fact of an 

 insect belonging here unmistakable. Sexual characters are feeble and 

 seldom used in specific or generic determinations. 



The larvai are common on leaves of plants, and may often be seen in 

 numbers on twigs infested with aphides, which constitute the chief food 

 of the more northern species, although Epilachna borealis 

 (Fig. 35), which occurs farther to the south, is known to be 

 phytophagous in habit. Most of the known North American 

 larvse of this family agree in being of somewhat elongate 

 form, often quite spiny and usually spotted or banded in reds, 

 black and yellows. They bear a resemblance to a minute ^'s- ^s- 

 alligator in shape, and are known under that name by children in some 

 parts of the country. When full fed the larva attaches 

 itself by the anal extremity to some convenient surface — 

 the under side of a leaf or the bark of a tree in wild 

 countries — and transforms to a pupa (Fig. 36 — pupa of 

 Coccinella g-notata), displaying the characteristic gaudy 

 colours before mentioned, the old larval skin adhering to 

 the posterior extremity. 



The genera are extremely difficult to tabulate in a 



