76 



pupae bore a general resemWance to those of Hispa suturalis ; and in the course of 

 about a week disclosed the Hispa vittata of Fabricius. * * This insect I 



first saw on the marsh golden rod, in September, 1829 ; again in September, 1832, in 

 great numbers in the axils of the leaves of the same plant; and upon the 10th of June, 

 1834, I found it celebrating its nuptials, and discovered on the leaves of the plants 

 frequented by it, little black grains which, I presume, were the eggs of the insect. — 

 These granular bodies were about i^ of an inch long, somewhat elliptical, flattened 

 upon the side which was glued to the leaf, and covered upon the rest of the surface 

 with a rough, black substance. They were in clusters of four or five, placed side by 

 side, and adhered closely together, and to the leaf on which they were fixed. Upon 

 the leaves of the plants inhabited by the other species of Hispa, I have often observed 

 somewhat similar eggs, not however in clusters, but placed singly, and of a more irre- 

 gular or angulated shape. Never having traced the development of these eggs, I can- 

 not positively affirm them to belong to the Hispae, though I have but little doubt on 

 the subject. 



" I am by no means certain whether, or how, the Hispae pass the winter, but pre- 

 sume that they hibernate, in the perfect state, among the roots of herbage ; for there 

 does not seem to be more than one brood in the season, and the perfect insects of the 

 different species appear, at their proper times, during the spring or summer, before the 

 larvae are to be found. It may be well to remark that the habits of these insects, in 

 their natural state, are precisely the same as those which they exhibit when reared in 

 confinement, and that I have repeatedly observed larvae, pupae, and perfect insects 

 within the subcutaneous retreats where they pass through all their transformations, and 

 which they leave only when they are about to provide for a continuation of their race. 

 Secure as they may seem to be, while in their larva state, they are not without their 

 enemies ; for a small Ichneumon is endued with the faculty of discovering them, and 

 is furnished with a long piercer, with which it perforates the cuticle of the leaf and 

 the skin of their tender bodies, into which it conveys its eggs, committing only one to 

 a single larva. The grub hatched from the egg of this parasitic insect, lives within 

 the body of its victim, which has barely sufiicient strength to undergo the change to 

 a pupa, when it dies, exhausted by the remorseless gnawings of its intestine foe. The 

 latter completes, in a few days, its own transfonnations within the empty pupa-skin of 

 the Hispa, from which it eventually emerges in the winged state. Those which I ob- 

 tained came out during the month of August, 1829, from the pupae of Hispa rosea ? 

 and H. suturalis." — p. 147. 



Hispa scapularis, Olivier. 

 „ lateralis, Say. 



Inhabits the United States of North America. A single specimen 

 was taken by Mr. Doubleday at St. John's Bluff, in East Florida. 



Hispa Bacchus. Nigra, prothorace, stenio, abdomineque lajte ru- 

 bris : prothorax scaber, profunde punctus : utrmnque elytron 

 seriebus 10 punctorum profundorum impressum ; in medio ely- 

 troriim series tantum 8 ; inter 2um et Sum, quoque inter 4tum 

 et 5tum linea elevata nitida. Insectum longum. (Corp. long, 

 •25 unc. lat. '075 imc.) 



