84 THE EEPOET OF THE No. 36 



tis and plants of the genus Tlialictrum , the latter growing in the perennial border 

 at the Central Experimental Farm. At Aweme, Man., Mr. Norman Criddle finds 

 the species wherever the Wild Pea {Latliyrus venosus) is plentiful. The heetlea 

 may be found in Ontario any time from the latter part of June to the end of 

 September. 



The AsH-GEAY Blister Beetle (Macrohasis unicolor, Kirby). (Fig. 6^ on plate). 

 This also is an abundant species, particularly in the east. It is larger than the 

 Black Blister Beetle and in colour is of a uniform ash-gray. In size it varies from 

 slightly less than half an inch to five-eighths of an inch. In New Brunswick the 

 beetles have been very numerous during the month of July, eating the leaves of 

 horse beans. In Quebec, the insect has attacked potatoes and beans. In Ontario 

 the chief injury has also been to potatoes and beans. Other plants are often 

 attacked by these beetles, such as peas, beets, tomato, sweet potato, clover, bass- 

 wood, honey locust, lupine, astragalus, wild indigo, anemone, chrysanthemum, 

 caragana, aralia, clematis, ironweed and thalictrum. At Ottawa the beetles 

 have been frequently found upon the Tall Meadow Eue {Thalictrum cornuti). In 

 the district we have found the adults from the beginning of the last week of June 

 to the first week of August. 



The Westekn Blister Beetle (Fig. 4, on plate), or, as it is also called. Nut- 

 tail's Blister Beetle {Cantharis 7iuUaUi, Say), occurs throughout the west and is some 

 years decidedly destructive to leguminous crops, particularly Windsor broad beans. 

 It is a handsome species and in length is from three-quarters to one inch. The wing- 

 covers are variable in colour, some being purple, others greenish or of a coppery 

 appearance. The head, thorax and body are metallic green, with a golden sheen. 

 The time of the appearance of this blister beetle in destructive numbers varies con- 

 siderably. During the past season the beetles appeared in large numbers in Sas- 

 katchewan from about the 25th July till the middle of August. Other years they 

 appeared in swarms about July 1st and in 1893 at Saskatoon, Sask., they occurred 

 as early as June 19th. Besides beans, the -beetles have been found injuring young 

 oats, barley, cultivated tares and leguminous wild plants such as Vicia americana 

 and the astragali or milk vetches. 



The Gray Blister Beetle (Epicauta cinerea Forst) (Pig. 2, on plate )7has 

 some years been destructive in Ontario and Quebec to potatoes, beans, vetch and 

 alfalfa. It is also recorded as destructive to honey locust and even to the foliage of 

 apple and the young fruit. It does not, however, occur nearly so destructively m 

 Canada as some of the other species. In colour it is black, uniformly clothed with 

 grey pubescence, and is from about three-eighths to five-eighths of an inch in length. 

 The beetles occur in July and August. 



The Margined Blister Beetle (Epicauta marginata Fab.). (Fig. 8, on 

 plate.) The onlly Canadian specimens I have seen of this species are three which 

 were taken at London, Ont., and which are in the collection of the Entomological 

 Society of Ontario. This insect is very abundant in the United States and is re- 

 corded as being particularly partial to beets. It appears in July and August, and 

 besides beets is loiown to have attacked beans, potatoes, tomatoes, asters, clematis, 

 etc. In colour it is black, the head and sides of the thorax being clothed with gray 

 pubescence, as are also the margins of the wing-covers. When at rest the inner 

 gray borders of the wing- covers appear as a band down the centre of the back. 



