104 INSECTS OF MASSACHUSETTS. 



in great abundance on the horse-radish, various kinds of cresses, 

 and on the mustard, and turnip, early in May, and indeed at other 

 times throughout the summer. It is very injurious to young 

 plants, destroying their seed-leaves as soon as the latter expand. 

 Should it multiply to any extent, it may, in time, become as great 

 a pest as the European turnip flea-beetle, which it closely resem- 

 bles in its appearance, and in all its habits. Though rather larger 

 than the cucumber flea-beetle, and of a longer oval shape, it is 

 considerably less than one tenth of an inch in length. It is of a 

 polished black color, with a broad wavy buff-colored stripe on 

 each wing-cover, and the knees and feet are reddish yellow. 

 Specimens are sometimes found having two bufT-yellow spots on 

 each wing-cover instead of the wavy stripe. These were not 

 known, by Fabricius, to be merely varieties of the striolata, and 

 accordingly he described them as distinct, under the name of 

 bipustidata,* the two-spotted. 



The steel-blue flea-beetle, Haltica chalybea of Illiger, or the 

 grape-vine flea-beetle, as it might be called on account of its 

 habits, is found in almost all parts of the United States, on wild 

 and cultivated grape-vines, the buds and leaves of which it de- 

 stroys. Though it has received the specific name of chalybea, 

 meaning steel-blue, it is exceedingly variable in its color, speci- 

 mens being often seen on the same vine, of a dark purple, violet, 

 Prussian blue, greenish blue, and deep green color. The most 

 common tint of the upper side is a glossy, deep, greenish blue ; 

 the under-side is dark green ; and the antennae and feet are dull 

 black. The body is oblong-oval, and the hinder part of the 

 thorax is marked with a transverse furrow. It measures rather 

 more than three twentieths of an inch in length. In this part of 

 the country these beetles begin to come out of their winter quar- 

 ters towards the end of April, and continue to appear till the 

 latter part of May. Soon after their first appearance they pair, 

 and probably lay their eggs on the leaves of the vine, and perhaps 

 on other plants also. A second brood of the beetles is found on 

 the grape-vines towards the end of July. I have not had an op- 

 portunity to trace the history of these insects any further, and con- 



Crioccris bipustulata, Fabricius. 



