86 THE EEPOET OF THE No. 36 



The Steiped Blistee Beetle {Epicauta vittata Fab.). (Fig. 5, on plate.) 

 This species, wliicii is about half an inoh in length with blackish Aving-covers, each 

 of ^vliich is bordered with yellow and has a yellow stripe down the centre, has not 

 as yet been complained of as a serious pest in Canada. In 1901, it was reported 

 as injuring potatoes, tomatoes, mangels and beets in a few places in western On- 

 tario, during the last week of July and the first week of August. Provancher re- 

 cords the species from St. Hyacinthe, Que. In the United States this beetle has 

 long been known, particularly in the eastern States, as one of the most destructive 

 pests of the potato. Besides the above-mentioned crops it has also been found 

 doing injury to turnips, beans, peas, radishes, melons, corn, clover and alfalfa. 



The Spotted Blistee Beetle (Epicauta maculata Say.). (Fig. 3, on plate.) 

 In British Columbia and some of the other western provinces this blister 

 bleetle has been frequently complained of. In colour it is gray, or rather the 

 black body is covered with fine gray hairs, excepting small areas on tbe wing 

 covers which show up as black spots. The beetles appear any time from about the 

 middle of May till the middle of August. Injury by this species has been done 

 particularly to potatoes, but it has also done considerable damage to beets, cab- 

 bages, spinach, beans and clover. It is also kno^^oi to feed in Montana upon the 

 (rrease-wood, Sarcohatus vermiculatus. 



Say's Blistee Beetle (Pomphopoea saiji Lee.) (Fig. T, on plate.) This 

 species has not yet been recorded as an important pest in Canada. It, unlike the 

 above-mentioned species, is arboreal, feeding on the blossoms of certain trees. At 

 Toronto, Mr. C. W. ISTash has reported that the beetles did considerable damage 

 to the blossoms of plum, in May. During the past season the adults were present 

 in some numbers on June 4th at Hull, (^ue., where Mr. W. Metcalfe found them 

 feeding on the blossoms of elder. Mr. F. J. A. Morris collected the species on 

 July 1st, in Muskoka, Out., upon Nannyberry {Viburnum lentago). Mr. J. D. 

 Evans has taken the beetles at Sudbury, Ont., on May 14th, Mr. A. W. Hanham 

 has found the species at Quebec, Que., and Mr. A. F. Winn has collected the heetle 

 at Shawbridge, Que., on June 4th. Mr. Winn informs me that he has also found 

 specimens at other points in the Laurentian Mountain district, in the blossoms of 

 cherry, plum, etc. This is a handsome species measuring about seven-eighths of 

 an inch in length. In colour it is of a dark metallic blue, the first two joints of 

 the legs being roddish-yellow. 



The Geeen Blistee Beetle, Caniharis cyanipennis Say. Few instances 

 are on record of this species occurring in destructive numbers in Canada, lu 1900 

 the beetles were found injuring pea vines in an orchard at Ducks, B.C.. and in 

 1904 specimens were sent to the Division with the statement that they were de- 

 stroying beans and peas. No further record of injury by them has since been 

 received. "At several places in Western Assiniboia and Southern Alberta", the 

 beetles have been found by Fletcher feeding on the wild American vetch. This 

 species is a large one^ some individuals being three-quarters of an inch in length; 

 in colour it varies from an intense green to almost a deep blue with metallic re- 

 flections. 



Other species of cantharids which occur in Canada but which so far have not 

 appeared in injurious niirabers, are the following: 



