298 



Wisconsin State Horticultural Society. 



in color, varying from shades of purple to dark green and blue. 

 We find the following in relation to this insect, in an address given 

 by Dr. J. Fisher, of Fitchburg, Mass., before the Massachusetts 

 Board of Agriculture: « It has a most beautiful, brilliant, greenish 

 blue color, and a very shiny shell. It is the size of a small lady 

 bug, and somewhat the same shape, only a little more oval. It ap- 

 pears very early in the spring, before the leaves of the grape have 

 shown; and, just about the time the buds begin to swell, this in- 

 ect bores a small hole right in the side of the bud, takes out tho 



1-4 tv 



Fig. 23. Steel Blue Beetle. 



center, and prevents it from developing, using so much for food. 

 They come in considerable numbers, and pair immediately on meet- 

 ing their mates, eating what little they want, and destroying a 

 b ud every time they eat. They lay their eggs upon the foot stalks 

 of the leaves, or at the base of the protruding shoot, remain about 

 for some time and disappear. From the eggs that are laid are 

 hatched small, brownish, nearly black, slugs or worms, that feed on 

 the upper or under surface of the leaf, without much choice, grad- 

 ually growing with the leaves; the different broods lasting, per- 

 haps, six weeks, when they all disappear. Sometimes they are 

 very plenty. They have been so numerous in some gardens, as to 

 destroy the crop completely, and any grower is liable to have them 

 overrunning his vines, if he does not keep on the watch. It is my 



