294 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



bifid, size small, color usually brown with dark spots, though occasionally 

 black, and there are lobes in front of the prothorax, between the eyes. The 

 species in question, which I have been informed is Paria atcrrima by one of the 

 best Coleopterists of the United States, has not these lobes, and seems to me 

 to come under the genus Metachroma. 



This species is without a doubt two-brooded. In March they were seen by Mr. 

 Ezra Jones, through whose kindness I have been supplied with specimens. In 

 April and May they were very numerous. The last of May the beetles disap- 

 peared. Now, June 19, they are for the most part in the pupa state, in 

 earthen cocoons about an inch and a half beneath the surface of the ground. 

 I find many full-grown grubs or lame and a few smaller larvae, which were 

 found to be feeding on the tender rootlets. Certainly in July another genera- 

 tion of beetles come forth. Whether there are more than two broods or not I 

 am unable to state, but shall be able to determine during the season. I pre- 

 sume they pass the winter as imagos, from their early appearance as beetles in 

 the spring. They may exist in winter as pupa?, and very likely some do, which 

 would account for their scattering along as they do through the season. 



The larva is white, with a yellowish head and brown jaws. There are eleven 

 segments back of the head. The breathing mouths show plainly along the 

 side of the body. There is only one pair wanting, those on the first thoracic 

 ring. The pair on the second ring are very large. There are rows of hairs 

 extending transversely one to each ring, but few hairs to each row on the side 

 of each ring. About each of the stomata there seems to arise a tuft of hairs. 

 The usual three pairs of thoracic jointed legs are plainly visible. The length 

 is 5|- mm. (.22 in.) 



In a small spherical cocoon of earth we find the pupa. It is also white, 

 shorter than the larvae, only 4 mm. in length, hairy, with the legs, antennae, 

 wings, etc., bent down close to the body, as is the case with all Coleopterous 

 pupae. The facets of the compound eyes show quite distinctly. In the cocoon 

 will always be found the head-shield and jaws of the larvae. The pupa is con- 

 stantly moving its abdominal segments when disturbed. 



The little beetle is only 3 mm. (^ in.) long. The head antennae, legs, and 

 wing-cases are yellowish, the throax brown, and the under side of the body 

 black. The center of the thorax is clouded with black, and generally each 

 wing-cover is yellowish, dotted with two black spots. The posterior spot is 

 much the larger. In about one beetle in six I find them all black. In a few 

 cases the black beetles were tinged with yellow at the tip of the body. These 

 polymorphic species are not very rare among insects. 



HABITS. 



These beetles, like all of their family, are voracious feeders, and, though 

 small, are so numerous that in early spring and after harvest they completely 

 defoliate the strawberry plants. They have done this at Mr. Ezra Jones' and, 

 as I understand from him, in the strawberry plantation of Mr. Gardner of 

 Dimondale, from whom Mr. Jones procured some plants and from whose place 

 he thinks he brought the pest. 



The larvae appear to eat the young, tender roots, and in this to differ from 

 others of the leaf eating beetles. As these larvae, as well as the pupae, are 

 in the earth about the roots of the plants, we see that their importation with 

 affected plants would be very easy, and could only be avoided with certainty by 

 having the roots of the plants thoroughly washed before setting. 



