572 State Board of AcrRicuLTuuE, &c. 



Virginiana most commonly, but it also feeds upon the 

 leaves of several species of Ranunculus, but it sometimes 

 deserts these for potatoes, and commits no inconsiderable 



ravages. 



There is another blister beetle of much more robust form 

 than the preceding, of a Ijluish, metallic color. It has 

 very small wings and a large abdomen, and looks somewhat 

 like a large ant. This beetle, Meloe angusticollis, Say., or- 

 dinarily feeds on buttercups, l)ut sometimes attacks pota- 

 toes, though it has never, I believe, done much mischief. 

 All of these beetles except the last may be destroyed by 

 driving them into straw and burning them, or they may be 

 brushed from the plants into a basin of water and when the 

 wdngs are wet they cannot fly. A gauze net swept over the 

 plants' will capture many of them, and where the numbers 

 are not great this method might be most convenient. 



Figure two is an enlarged cut of a very small, agile 

 beetle, Haltica cucumeris, Harris, that sometimes attacks 

 potato leaves, and has occasionally done much damage. 



CUCUMBE FLEA-BEETLE— HALTICA CUCUMERIS.— ^arm. 

 It is only about one-sixteenth of an inch long, black, 

 with light yellow antennae and legs. The upper sur- 

 face of the body is covered with depressed dots. A 

 somewhat similar species is found on the grape vine. Its 

 hind thighs, which differ from the rest in being bro^vn, are 

 very large and fit the animal for leaping. It is found on 

 quite a number of different plants, attacking the leaves and 



