ART. 2 BEETLE LARVAE OF GALERUCINAE BOVING 35 



Mature larva. — About 14 nnii. long. The general color and the 

 structural details the same as in Galeruca tanaceti and G. laticollis 

 with the following exceptions : 



(1) Sclerites on uj^per side of mesothorax and metathorax and of 

 the abdominal segments generally somewhat smaller at bases and 

 projecting into tuberciiles as high or higher than in tanaceti. 

 Sclerites much smaller and much higher than in laticollis. 



(2) Setae yellowish brown, much shorter than in tanaceti and 

 somewhat shorter than in laticollis. 



(3) Exterior prescutal sclerite of an abdominal segment very 

 small and separated from the interior prescutal sclerite by a distance 

 about fi^e times its own diameter, carrying one or two setae (fig. 12). 

 In tanaceti the distance between exterior and interior prescutal scle- 

 rites is about three times the diameter of the exterior sclerite and in 

 laticollis the same distance is about equal to the length of the diam- 

 eter of the exterior sclerite. 



(4) Interior scuto-scutellar sclerites of an abdominal segment 

 separate as in tanaceti; not fused with those on the opposite side of 

 the body as in laticollis. 



(5) Ninth abdominal segment with a much larger fleshy region 

 anterior to a shorter and broader shield than in both tanaceti and 

 laticollis. 



Habits. — In Europe, according to Kaltenbach,^' feeding on leaves 

 near the roots of Centaurea jaeea,^ Scahiosa succisa. and Circiutn 

 'palustre. In Illinois, according to John J. Davis, feeds exclusively 

 on Phlox divaricata (F. Knab mentions also Dentaria lo.ciniata as 

 a food plant for specimens collected at Urbana, 111.). Larva digs, 

 according to J. J. Davis, an inch or less into the ground before pupa- 

 tion, forming there a cocoon of a few silken threads Avith particles 

 of earth interwoven. 



Literature. — 



Davis, John J. 



1907. Life history iincl habits of GoleJ'ucn pomnnne Soopoli in Il'iinois 

 (Ent. News, vol. 18, 269-275, one plate). 



SERMYLASSA HALENSIS Linnaeus 



(U. S. Nat. Mils.; described from a mature lan'a in vial raarkotl : "No. 

 280, from Meinert, 1890, ex Coll. Zool. Mus. Copenhagen." Newly 

 hatched larva kept in vial marked: " South Germany. Dr. K. W. Yerhoeff 

 Coll. Bought August, 1922.") 



Mature larva (fig. 14.) — ^About 10 mm. long. 



Head shining, yellow, region around ocellus and antenna more 

 whitish; labrum unicolored yellow; frontal sutures whitish; margins 



" Pflanzenfeinde, p. 315. 



