238 FIFTH REPORT OF THE ENTOMOLOGICAL COMMISSION. 



22. The antiopa butterfly. 



Vanessa anliopa (Linnaeus), 



Order Lepidoptera ; Family Papilionid^. 



Sometimes occurring on the elm, but more common on the willow ; a stoutly-spiued 

 caterpillar, with a black body spotted minutely with white, with a row of eight dark 

 brick-red spots on the back; changing to a dark brown chrvsalis, with large tawny 

 spots around the tubercles on the back. The butterfly purplish brown above, with a 

 broad buft'-yellow border in which is a row of pale blue spots. Flying from March 

 till June, and again from the middle of August until late autumn. 



Its food plants are : elm, white birch, poplar, silver poplar, willow. 

 It is two-brooded, and m"any of the late emerging specimens hibernate 

 and may often be seen on warm days in January or February flitting 

 about. The larvae are often attacked by Tachinids and many pupae are 

 destroyed by Pteromaliis vanessce, which watches her chance during 

 pupation. They are also destroyed by Podisus spinosits. (Riley's MS. 

 notes.) 



23. The great elm-leaf beetle. 



Monocesta coryli (Say). 



Order Coleoptera ; Family Chrysomelid^. 



Occasionally destructive to the red or slippery elm in the Middle States ; a pale yel- 

 lowish beetle more than half an inch long, with the wing-covers twice spotted with 

 blue; laying its yellow eggs in a cluster on the under side of the leaf in June, the 

 grub appearing a week later, being brown or yellowish-brown, and eating the leaves 

 into rags; towards the end of July or early in August entering the ground, forming an 

 oval cavity a few inches below the surface ; assuming the pupa state a week before 

 they appear as beetles in June. (Riley.) 



In his report as U. S. Entomologist for 1878, Professor Riley calls at- 

 tention to a much larger beetle than the imported elm-leaf beetle, but 

 having very similar habits, and which has proved extremely destructive 

 to the red or slippery elm in Missouri during the past few years : 



The sudden appearance of this insect in such excessive numbers as to absolutely 

 strip all the elms of this species through the woods for many miles must be looked 

 upon as phenomenal; for while J. F. Melsheimer reported the beetle many years ago as 

 sufficiently numerous iu some parts of Virginia to completely defoliate in a short time 

 the hazel (Corylns americanus),* the species is generally considered a rarity in ento- 

 mological cabinets. Nor can I find that anything has been recorded of its adoles- 

 cent stages. The beetle was first described by Say {loc. cit.) as Galernca coryli, and 

 is the only North American species of the genus Monocesta to which it is now referred, 

 the genus being more fully represented in Central and South America. The color is 

 pale clay-yellow, with two dark, bluish spots on each wing-cover. These spots are 

 variable in size, and sometimes entirely wanting. 



My attention was first called to the injuries of this larva some three years ago by 

 Mr. George W. Letterman, of Allentown, Mo , and I have since been able to trace 

 the full natural history of the species as it is given below. 



The parent beetles (Fig. 83, jj) make their first appearance during the month 

 of June, when they may usually be found pairing on the tree first mentioned. The 



"Auciore Say, Journ. Ac. Nat. Sc, Phil., Ill, 1824. 



