126 Forty-third Report on the State Museum. [30J 



which it utilizes by bending it over its back and supporting upon it a 

 protective covering or mantle composed of its excrementa and 

 exuviae, to shield it from the sun or to hide it from its enemies. 



Excellent illustrations of the larva and beetle are given in the 

 American Entomologiat i, 1869, p. 237, figs. 177, 178. 



The beetle was observed in abundance on the morning-glory, at 

 Kaatskill Bay, on Lake George, N. Y., on the twenty-sixth of June — 

 many in copulation, and in great resplendence. 



The Clubbed Tortoise-Beetle. 



Coptocycla davata (Fabr.). 

 (Ord. Coleoptera: Fam. Chrysomelice.) 

 Cassida davata Fabricius : Supp. Syst. Ent. 1798, p. 83, No. 30-1. 



Can you give me any information concerning the inclosed curious- 

 looking insects, which appear to be quite new in this locality? I have 

 found them in isolated cases feeding upon the leaves of the potato, 

 egg-plant, and tomato during this season and last. F. T. 



MOREISTOWN, N. J. 



The curious-looking insects (received in small fragments from 

 unprotected iuclosure in a letter) belong to the group of tortoise- 

 beetles and to the species at present known as GojJtocyda davata. By 

 some authors it is placed in the genus Deloyala Chevr., and by older 

 authors was included in the genus Cassida. 



The beetle, shown in Figure 14, is less than one-fourth of an inch long, 

 of a broadly oval and flattened form, and with the thorax and wing- 

 covers thinly spread out on their margins — 

 their upj^er portions pitted and rough, 

 of a brown color, marked with black on 

 the more elevated parts. The upturned 

 margin of the thorax is whitish and 

 transparent, as are also the margins of 

 the wing-covers, except at four points 

 where the brown of the dorsum extends 

 FiG.u.-The clubbed tortoise- ^^ ^^^ margin, viz., at the apex and just 

 beetle, Coptocycla clavata. o' i •> 



( After Emmous. ) before the posterior tip. This species is not 



known to be particularly injurious to the potato plant, although it 

 has at times been found in considerable numbers upon it in different 

 localities, as at Old Westbury, Long Island, N. Y., but was not 

 reported as doing serious damage. In addition to the tomato and 

 egg-plant, as above stated, it also occurs upon the bittersweet 

 {Solanum dulcamara). It is somewhat singular that this species does 



