COLEOPTERA. 101 



wards the end of April. It makes its first appearance, on cucum- 

 ber, squash, and melon vines, about the last of May and first of 

 June, or as soon as the leaves begin to expand ; and, as several 

 broods are produced in the course of the summer, it may be 

 found at various times on these plants, till the latter are destroyed 

 by frost. Great numbers of these little beetles may be obtained 

 in the autumn from the flowers of squash and pumpkin vines, the 

 pollen and germs of which they are very fond of. They get into 

 the blossoms as soon as the latter are opened, and are often 

 caught there by the twisting and closing of the top of the flower ; 

 and, when they want to make their escape, they are obliged to 

 gnaw a hole through the side of their temporary prison. The 

 females lay their eggs in the ground, and the larvae probably feed 

 on the roots of plants, but they have hitherto escaped my re- 

 searches. 



Various means have been suggested and tried to prevent the 

 ravages of these striped cucumber-beetles, which have become 

 notorious throughout the country for their attacks upon the leaves 

 of the cucumber and squash. Dr. B. S. Barton, of Philadelphia, 

 recommended sprinkling the vines with a mixture of tobacco and 

 red pepper, which he stated to be attended with great benefit. 

 Watering the vines with a solution of one ounce of Glauber's salts 

 in a quart of water, or with tobacco water, an infusion of elder, 

 of walnut leaves, or of hops, has been highly recommended. Mr. 

 Gourgas, of Weston, has found no application so useful as ground 

 plaster of Paris ; and a writer in the " American Farmer" extols 

 the use of charcoal dust. Deane recommended sifting powdered 

 soot upon the plants when they are wet with the morning dew, 

 and others have advised sulphur and Scotch snufFto be applied in 

 the same way. As these insects fly by night, as well as by day, 

 and are attracted by lights, lighted splinters of pine knots or of 

 staves of tar-barrels, stuck into the ground during the night, 

 around the plants, have been found useful in destroying these 

 beetles. The most effectual preservative both against these in- 

 sects and the equally destructive black flea-beetles which infest 

 the vines in the spring, consists in covering the young vines with 

 millinet stretched over small wooden frames. Mr. Levi Bartlett, 

 of Warner, N. H., has described a method for making these 



