THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 209 



was the food-plant." Mr. Sealy also called attention to a 

 peculiarity in the formation of the hind wings of the male, 

 specimens of which he exhibited, there being a large pouch 

 on the anal margin, filled with fluffy hair. 



Colorado Potato-beetle. — Mr. M'Lachlan read a letter he 

 had received from an Englishman residing in Pueblo, 

 Colorado, U.S., stating that he had grown potatoes in various 

 parts of the Union, and that he was satisfied it was not 

 necessary for the potato-beetle to have pieces of haulm to 

 support it whilst crossing the Atlantic, as he had found the 

 insect in his potato-pits eating the tubers greedily ; and that 

 unless the English authorities took some steps to prevent the 

 importation of potato-bulbs, he believed the beetle would 

 soon be in this country. Mr. M'Lachlan drew attention to 

 the following remark by Lieut. W. L. Carpenter, in his 

 Report of the Zoological Collections made in Colorado 

 during the summer of 1873 (extracted from the Annual 

 Report of the U.S. Geological and Geographical Survey) 

 with reference to the Colorado potato-beetle: — "This insect 

 is still marching eastward, not a single specimen having been 

 seen west of the dividing-ridge. It is probable that, should 

 the potato be cultivated on the western water-shed, it would 

 be free from the ravages of this destructive insect for a 

 number of years ; but that it would ultimately make its 

 appearance in that region through the agency of the seed. 

 This I believe to be the manner of their introduction to 

 distant localities, as they are sluggish travellers, and quite 

 incapable of spreading so rapidly by their own instinct. 

 This belief is further sustained by their continued absence 

 from the Salt Lake basin, occasioned by the cheapness of 

 vegetables in the Mormon settlements excluding the im- 

 portation of potatoes from Colorado. Not found at a greater 

 altitude than eight thousand feet." Mr. Bates believed the 

 distribution of the beetle depended more upon climatic con- 

 ditions. The native home of the insect was the eastern 

 plateaus of the Rocky Mountains, as far south as Mexico ; 

 and the climate of the West Coast of America being much 

 more like the West Coast of Europe, their Faunas also bore 

 a great resemblance. He believed the absence of the insect 

 from the west of the Rocky Mountains to depend upon the 

 difference ol" climate; and the same cause might be expected 



2e 



