REPORT OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST 1 97 



Galerucella cavicollis (Lee). 



A Cheny-leaf Beetle. 



(Ord. CoLEOPTERA : Fam. Chrysomelid/E.) 



Galertica cavicollis. LeConte : in Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1865, 

 p. 216 (original description). 



From Mrs. H. D. Graves, of Ausable Forks, N. Y., examples of 

 beetles were received on June loth of which "thousands" were feeding 

 on the foliage of her cherry trees left by the late frost. Submitted to 

 Dr. John Hamilton, answer was returned that it was Galerucella cavi- 

 collis (Lee), which had been found abundantly in Canada, but was rare in 

 this region. Its only recorded food-plant is wild cherry. 



Mr. G. C. Davis states, in hisect Life, vii, 1894, p. 200, that he had 

 received the insect from Bellaire, Mich., where, during the latter part of 

 May, it was causing damage to cherry trees of that locahty. Some wild 

 cherry trees in the vicinity were found, on examination, to have a few of 

 the beetles on them. Mr. Davis received the larvae on July loth, and 

 has given description of them in the above cited notice. 



Mr. Schwarz refers to the insect {Lisect Life, iv, p. 94) as a common 

 northern species. Dr. Horn in his Galerucini of Boreal America i^Trans. 

 Amer. Ent. Soc, xx, 1893), gives its occurrence "from Canada to the 

 New England and Middle States westward to Wisconsin; North Caro- 

 lina." Dr. Packard, in his Lnsects Lnjurious to Forest and Shade Trees 

 (page 529), under Galeruca sanguinea, states: "We observed this leaf- 

 beetle in great abundance at Berlin Falls, N. H., September 13th, eating 

 holes in the leaves." Dr. Packard must have written safigui?iea in error 

 for riifosanguinea, as the European sanguifiea Fabr. (Lcchmace cratcegi 

 Forst.) has not been found in this country. The beetles observed by 

 him, were in all probability G. cavicollis, as G. rufosafi guinea is a more 

 southern form, occurring according to Dr. Horn, in North Carolina, 

 Maryland, and Pennsylvania, and recorded in New Jersey by Dr. Smith. 

 The two species very closely approach and resemble one another, differ- 

 ing mainly in the slightly coarser punctured and less shining elytra in the 

 latter. If the identification of Walsh {Practical Entomologist, ii, 1866, 

 p. 9) was correct, it has also been taken in June on buttercups, Ranun- 

 culus acris, in the vicinity of Albany, N. Y. 



It is jjrobable that G. cavicollis has but a single brood. The beetles 

 feedmg on the foliage, June loth, were probably hibernated individuals 

 that may already have been abroad for two or three weeks, althouob 



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