COLEOPTERA. 113 



its thighs, and in never having the tips and shoulders of the 

 wing-covers yellowish ; so that it may still bear the name given 

 to it in my Catalogue. It is only one sixteenth of an inch 

 long, of a black color, with clay-yellow antennee and legs, 

 except the hindmost thighs, which are brown. The upper side 

 of the body is covered with punctures, which are arranged in 

 rows on the wing-cases ; and there is a deep transverse furrow 

 across the hinder part of the thorax. During the summer, 

 these pernicious flea-beetles may be found, not only on cucum- 

 ber-vines, but on various other plants having fleshy and sviccu- 

 lent leaves, such as beans, beets, the tomato, and the potato. 

 They injure all these plants, more or less, according to their 

 numbers, by nibbling little holes in the leaves with their teeth ; 

 the functions of the leaves being thereby impaired in proportion 

 to the extent of surface and amount of substance destroyed. 

 The edges of the bitten parts become brown and dry by expo- 

 sure to the air, and assume a rusty appearance. Since the 

 prevalence of the disease, commonly called the potato-rot, 

 attention has been particularly directed to various insects that 

 live upon the potato plant; and, as these flea-beetles have been 

 found upon it in great numbers, in some parts of the country, 

 they have been charged with being the cause of the disease. 

 The same charge has also been made against several other 

 kinds of insects, some of which will be described in the course 

 of this work. In my own opinion, the origin, extension, and 

 continued reappearance of this wide-spread pestilence are not 

 due to the depredations of insects of any kind. jVIr. Phanuel 

 Flanders, of Lowell, where the flea-beetles have appeared in 

 unusual numbers, showed to me, in August, 1851, some potato- 

 leaves that were completely riddled with holes by them, so that 

 but little more than the ribs and veins remained untouched. 

 He thinks that their ravages may be prevented by watering 

 the leaves with a solution of lime, a remedy long ago employed 

 in England, with signal benefit, in preserving the turnip crop 

 from the attacks of the turnip flea-beetle. 



The wavy-striped flea-beetle, Haltica striolata* may be seen 



♦ Crioceris striolata, Fabricius. 



15 



