190 Bulletin 157, 



The History and Distribution of the Insect. 



Nearly a century ago specimens of this flea-beetle from Geor- 

 gia and Pennsylvania found their way into European collections, 

 and in 1807 it was described and given its scientific name by 

 Illiger, a German. The year previously it had been listed in 

 America in a published catalogue of the insects of Pennsylvania 

 (see the first reference in the Bibliography). In 1824 the insect 

 was again described under a different name by our famous Amer- 

 ican coleopterist, Le Conte. He states that it occurred from New 

 York to Georgia ; thus the insect has been a native of our state 

 for at least 75 years. 



Apparently nothing was known of the habits of this flea-beetle 

 until about a quarter of a century after it was first found and 

 described. In 1834, David Thomas recorded that it appeared on 

 grape-vines in considerable numbers in Cayuga county, N. Y., 

 near Philadelphia, Pa., and in New Haven, Conn., and vicinity, 

 in the spring of 1831 ; in 1830, Thomas saw the grubs at work 

 on grape leaves but did not recognize them as belonging to this 

 insect until he raised the adult insect in 1832. 



The literature during the next thirt}^ years contains several 

 records of injuries by this flea -beetle in different parts of the 

 country. In i860 it was very injurious in Delaware, and also 

 during the next three years in various parts of New York ; as 

 early as 1863 it was reported as injurious as far west as Wis- 

 consin. By 1870 its life-histor}' was fairl}' well understood 

 by entomologists, and most subsequent accounts of it, except 

 Comstock's in 1880, are compilations. 



During the past thirty years this flea-beetle has seriously dam- 

 aged vineyards in widel}' separate portions of the country every 

 year, and it has been discussed b}^ nearh- all the prominent writ- 

 ers upon injurious insects. It is a native of North America and 

 occurs throughout the eastern half of the United States from 

 New England southward to southern Florida, and westward 

 through Canada and southern Michigan to southern Minnesota, 

 thence southward to eastern and southern Texas ; its western- 



