78 



insect has been found in about equal abundance on various cultivated 

 varieties of this locust, and the larva has also been observed in the 

 leaves of false indig'o {Anio7^)Jia fnitlcosa). Beetles are not infre- 

 quently met with upon various oThenrees, and more especially oak, 

 but the larva has not been found until recentl}^ on any other plants 

 than the two above specified. In the year 1880 this species was stated 

 by Dr. John H. Warder (American Ent., Vol. Ill, p. 151) to be devour- 

 ing- the foliage of Siberian crab apples, and rendering it quite shabby, 

 other forms of apple of the immediate vicinity escaping attack. The 

 Crafxgits tomentosa and some quinces appeared eroded in the same 

 manner, and, although the insect was not seen, the injury was proba- 

 bly due to this species. The same correspondent mentions the young 

 leaves of red oak {Quercus rubra) and European white oak {Q. j/edun- 

 culata) as having been attacked, while nine or ten other species of oak 

 observed escaped injury. It seems probable that the larva does not 

 develop in oak, or in other plants outside the order to which the locust 

 belongs, the Leguminosa3. The leaves of Ulmas ahiericcma^ or white 

 elm, were also stated by Dr. Warder to have been eaten." l^hc beetles 

 have been observed by Dr. Hopkins (Bui. 3ji, W. Va. Agric. Ex. Sta., 

 1893, p. 202) attacking beech, apple, wild cherry, and Wistaria leaves; 

 as also birch and hawthorn (Can. Ent., Vol. XXVIII, p. 248). Dur- 

 ing the summer of 1897 the writer observed this species feeding upon 

 the foliage of red clover, which grew under locust trees upon which the 

 larvsehad originally fed, on the leaves of hog peanut [Falcata comosa) 

 growing under locust trees, while larvtv were found and reared on the 

 large hairy leaves of soy beans on the grounds of this Department about 

 200 yards from where locust trees were growing (Bui. 9, n. s., Div. 

 Entom., pp. 22, 23). 



LIFE HISTORY AND HABITS. 



The heetle. — In the vicinity of Washington the beetle makes its first 

 appearance as soon as the leaves of the locust tree have full}" devel- 

 oped, usually about the beginning of May, and is then to be seen 

 without interruption throughout the summer, until the first half of 

 September,^ being quite abundant from the first week of July to near 

 the middle of August. During 1902 the beetles of the first new gen- 

 eration began to develop July 7 and had transformed for the most 

 part by the 12th of that month. 



The beetle is usually seen, apparently motionless, upon the surface 

 of the leaves, but upon close inspection it will be found busily engaged 



^' Owing to the confusion in the scientific nomenclature of our locust Hispid, these 

 other records are not quite reliable, and may refer either to Odontota rubra or to 0. 

 nervom, as these species are now known. 



^ Dr. Hopkins has recorded the occurrence of 0. dorsalis in West Virginia as late 

 as October 3, but does not state if the beetles were feeding at this time. 



