The Grape-vine Flea-beetle. 203 



How the insect passes the ivinter. — In 1859, Dr. Fitch found the 

 beetles torpid in winter beneath loose scales of bark on the vines 

 and under particles of dirt at the base of the vine. This fact, 

 that the insect passes the winter in the beetle state, has been 

 confirmed by all later observers. The beetles hibernate in almost 

 any crevice which will aiford them shelter ; the rough bark of 

 the supporting posts, under the outer bark at the base of the 

 vines themselves, in the joints of neighboring fences, under 

 sticks, stones, or logs upon the ground, all these are favorite 

 places for their hibernation. One observer (Fisher, 1879) reports 

 that the}^ appear to prefer to hibernate in adjoining grass-grounds 

 or in other substances about, rather than in the vineyard ; in 

 vineyards kept clear of all rubbish and other possible hibernating 

 shelter, this is doubtless true. Our breeding experiments 

 detailed above, indicate that the beetles which are developed in 

 July in New York feed during the summer, and finally go into 

 hibernation early in autumn, possibly sometimes as earh^ as the 

 latter part of August. It is these hibernating beetles which 

 emerge from their hiding places in April and May, or earlier in 

 the South, and, with appetites sharpened by their long winter's 

 fast, devour the bursting grape-buds. 



Its Natural Enemies. 



Like most other insect foes of the fruit-grower, this grape-vine 

 fiea-beetle has its natural enemies which render more or less aid 

 in reducing its numbers. It is probable that the beetles are 

 sometimes attacked by a fungous disease, for Comstock 

 records receiving specimens from Georgia found under the bark 

 of vines that w^ere fastened to the bark and surrounded by a 

 mass of white fungous spores.* We have not heard of any 

 fungous-killed beetles being found in New York. 



In 1889, the late Mr. George C. Snow, Penn Yan, N. Y., 

 detected a nymph of one of the common "stink-bugs" sucking 

 the juices out of the grubs of this fiea-beetle. The nymph was 



*In the Year Book of the U. S. Dept. of Agriculture for 1895, is figured, 

 page 395, without comment, an instance of the beetle having been killed 

 by a fungus. 



