[37] Report of the State Entomologist. 133 



destroyed a garden in a single night, eating potatoes, beet-leaves, 

 corn, etc. In 1887, it was received (Aug. 1) from Morton, Pa., where 

 large numbers had collected upon a Clematis Jiammida and completely- 

 devoured its leaves, as also of another Clematis with similar but not 

 fragrant flowers. It will thus be seen that its ravages are by no 

 means confined to potatoes. 



Remedies, Etc. 



Perhaps the best preventive of the depredations of this insect when 

 not very numerous is collecting by hand or by brushing them from 

 their food-plants into broad vessels and destroying them. A large 

 tin pan with some kerosene in the bottom would be convenient for 

 the purpose. 



It is stated in the American Eyitomologist (i. 1868, p. 24) that in 

 seasons when they have swarmed on the potato vines in Ohio, their 

 injuries were arrested "by placing between the furrows or rows some 

 dry hay or straw and setting it on fire. The beetles were thus nearly 

 all destroyed, and the straw burning very quickly did not injure the 

 vines." The driving and dusting methods practiced by our corre- 

 spondent, may also be employed with good effect. It is fortunate 

 that there is only a single annual brood of these greedy pests, unlike 

 the successive broods of the Colorado potato-beetle. 



A Valuable Vesicant. 

 This insect, as its common name indicates, belongs to the family of 

 the blistering beetles {Meloidce), and is said by Mr. Wm. Saunders, 

 who is excellent authority on the subject, to possess blistering prop- 

 erties fully equal to the well-known Spanish fly, Cantharis vesicatoria 



Linn. 



Its Transformations. 



The transformations of the Meloidce have been studied with great 

 interest by naturalists, and for a long time with very little success. 

 Some of them were known in their early stages to be parasitic upon 

 honey bees, attaching themselves to them by first climbing upon 

 flowers, and passing from thence to the bees visiting the flowers. 

 Others were believed to live in the ground and feed upon the roots 

 of vegetables. 



In an admirable paper published in 1877, by Professor Riley, "On 

 the Larval Characters and Habits of the Blister-beetles," we Avere for 

 the first time made acquainted with the life-history of some of the 

 species, and among them that of the striped blister-beetle. The eggs 

 are laid from July to October, in large masses, in holes excavated by 

 the female in the ground, which she afterwards covers by scratching 



