BEETLES. 315 



Vhelyinorpha cribmria, fouuil on inilkwi't'd [Asdepias), is not as iniicli Hatteiied 

 as Cassidu, is rudilish, with a number of i-ouml, bhu-li s])ots on the pronotuni and 

 elytra, giving it a slight roseniLlauce to a lady-hinl. 



Odontuta has a somewhat quadrate, or wedge-shajied form, narrowed in front, 

 distinctly eleven-jointed aiitenn;e, ami ecjarsely jiunetured elytral stri;e. 

 Odontota ai'AtUJlnris, the flattened larva' of which mine in the leaves of 

 the locust, is a couum.in species, whose de\astation extends to a numlier 

 of trees besides the locust. It is ilull yellow, with a black strij)e ujjon 

 the suture between the elytra, a black head, and is black beneatli. The 

 larva> appear in New England in July, and transform to beetles in vu:.."ai.—odoii- 

 August, after a short p\ipation in the leaves of the locust. 



Quite a number of Chrysomelida' have the hind femora much thickened, enabling 

 them to jump. Some of the smaller s|iecies jump with great activity, and on that 

 account have i)een termed Hea-beetles. Once the Hea-beetles were united in the genus 

 Haltka^i a name from a Greek word, meaning gooil at jumping, but they have been 

 divided since into nunier(Uis genera. Some of the tlca-beetles hibernate as larv;e, others 

 as imagos. 3Iany of them are seriously injurious to jilants, the leaves of which they 

 either mine or till witli small holes. In this way the hsives of tobacco are often rend- 

 ered unfit for cigar-making by a species of Cnpidodera. 



Flea-beetles of the genera Ptti/Uiodcg and JHIxiUn bore', in the larval state, in the 

 stems and leaves of succulent iil.ants. /'. vlini^noi jilialn, in Europe, devastates turnip 

 fields, but ofti'u turns its attention to other cr(jps. ]>. area, a little, round blue-black 

 beetle, often swarms in this country from I\I:iy imtil the beginning of winter, on the 

 plantain (I'linifiti/o iituj(ir) tlie leaves of which it riddles. 



The early stages of I'lii/llotreta striohitu, the turnip flea-beetle will suffice to give 

 an idea of the trimsformations of flea-beetles. The larva is linear, about 0.3.5 incli 

 long, has an anal ]ir(ip-leg; it is whitish, with head and jio^terior extrcMuitv light 

 brown. The white |uipa is enclosed in a little earthen cocoon beneath the ground. 

 Pu]iation lasts about two weeks. The lieetle is less than 0.1 inch long, black, with a 

 wavy yellow stripe on each elytron. The larva feeds u)ion roots of cabbages and t\n-- 

 nips underground, causing death of the ]ilanls; the im;igo eats the leaves of the same 

 plants. 



PhtjUotreta lu'inoridii, a European flea-beetle, devastates turniji-fields, while ils 

 orange-yellow larva bores the leaves of the young pl.ants ; like its American congener 

 it eats other sjiecies of cruciferous ))lants. Crepidodem cucicmeris, a black flea-beetle 

 about 0.00 inch long, which, as its name indicates, infests the cucumber, does not con- 

 fine itself to that jilant, Init mines the leaves of ])otat0es and of many other plants. 

 C. carinata, a green s[iecies, sometimes injures greeidiouse jilants, and seems especially 

 destructive to fuchsias. Graptodtm cJiah/hra, a flea-lieetle usually steel-blue, and 

 about 0.15 inch long, is a pest to grape-growers, for it not only eats the leaves, but it 

 destroys the buds of the grape. Its larva feeds exteinally on the leaves, descending 

 into the earth to pujiate. The imagos ]iil)crn:ite, l.-iying their orange-colored eggs in 

 clusters on the grajie leaves in the spring. 



Among the large species of saltatorial Chrysomelida>, two genera, QSdionijehis and 

 Disonijclm, are represented by numerous species in the fauna of eastern North America, 

 and another genus, Blepharida, h\ a single species. The species of DlsonycJia are 

 often prettily colored. Z>. alternata, a comtnon species on willows, is about O.o inch 

 long and half as wide, has a reddish head with black eyes and autenme, a reddish i)ro- 



