COLEOPTERA. 97 



The habits of the Hispas, little leaf-beetles, forming the family 

 HispAD^, were first made known by me in the year 1835, in the 

 " Boston Journal of Natural History",* where a detailed account 

 of them, with descriptions of three native species, .and figures of 

 the larvae and pupae, may be found. The upper side of the bee- 

 tles is generally rough, as the generical name implies. The larvae 

 burrow under the skin of the leaves of plants, and eat the pulpy 

 substance within, so that the skin, over and under the place of its 

 operations, turns brown and dries, and has somewhat of a blistered 

 appearance, and vvithin these blistered spots the larvae or grubs, 

 the pupae, or the beetles may often be found. The eggs of these 

 insects are little rough blackish grains, and are glued to the upper 

 side of the leaves, sometimes singly, and sometimes in clusters of 

 four or five together. The grubs of our common species are 

 about one fifth of an inch in length, when fully grown. The body 

 is oblong, flattened, rather broader before than behind, soft, and of 

 a whitish color, except the head and the top of the first ring, which 

 are brown, or blackish, and of a horny consistence. It has a pair 

 of legs to each of the first three rings ; the other rings are pro- 

 vided with small fleshy warts at the sides, and transverse rows of 

 little rasp-like points above and beneath. The pupa state lasts 

 only about one week, soon after which the beetles come out of 

 their burrows. 



The leaves of the apple-tree are inhabited by some of these 

 little mining insects, which, in the beetle state, are probably the 

 Hispa rosea-f of Weber, or the rosy Hispa. They are of a deep 

 tawny or reddish yellow color above, marked with little deep red 

 lines and spots. The head is small ;. the antenjiae are short, thick- 

 ened towards the end, and of a black color ; the thorax is narrow 

 before and wide behind, rough above, striped with deep red on 

 each side ; the wing-covers taken together form an oblong square ; 

 there are three smooth longitudinal lines or ribs on each of them, 

 spotted with blood red, and the spaces between these lines are 

 deeply punctured in double rows ; the under-side of the body is 

 black, and the legs are short and reddish. They measure about 



* Vol. I. page 141. 



t Hispa quadrata, Fabricius ; //. marginata, Say. 



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