59 



ables, and are thus very injurious ; while the plants are also weakened and killed by the 

 larvfe feeding upon the roots. In England there are several allied species very destructive 

 to turnips, but the larva3 mine in the leaves instead of feeding upon the roots. 



Systena marginalis, 111., a slender, yellowish beetle, one-lifth of an inch long, with a 

 narrow black line down the sides, is often very common upon elms, hickory, etc. I 

 found them especially adundant last season late in September upon some small oaks, the 

 leaves of which were much eaten. The beetles were at this time nearly all paired, and 

 were much more sluggish than they were three weeks previously, when I had noticed a 

 great number on some sweet-hickories. 



Epitrix cucumeris, Harris, the Cucumber Flea-beetle, is about the size of the 

 turnip beetle above described, and of similar habits, except that the larvpe mine 

 the leaves of the plants. The beetles (Fig. 74) are about one line in length, are 

 black, with yellowish antennae and legs, and have the elytra roughly punctured. 

 They feed upon the seed-leaves of cucumbers, thus killing the young vines, and 

 are found throughout the summer upon turnips and various garden vegetables, 

 eating holes in the leaves. ^^^- ^ 



There are a great number of small species belonging to the above and allied genera, 

 of very similar habits, and often injurious to cultivated as well as to wild plants. During 

 the winter such specimens as are to perpetuate the race seek refuge in crannies and 

 crevices of walls and fences, under stones or loosened bark, in tufts of moss, among fallen 

 leaves, in hollow stems of plants, etc. There, sheltered from the wet, they withstand 

 the severe frosts of our long winters, and come forth in the first warm days of spring to 

 renew their depredations. In the interval between their awakening and the appear- 

 ance of the cultivated vegetables upon which they feed, they subsist upon various species 

 of wild plants. We thus see, in regard to these insects as well as to many others, the 

 evils which may result to crops from leaving rubbish heaps and neglected corners about 

 the fields for insects to winter in, or to obtain sustenance in the early season. Of course 

 numbers of them hibernate in waste and wooded tracts, whence they invade the fields and 

 gardens in spite of every care ; still it will pay to keep gardens and fields free 

 from stone and rubbish heaps, from strips of weeds and brambles along the fences, and 

 neglected spots of any kind. 



Odontota (Hispa) rosea, Web., is very different in appearance from the previously 

 described species, not having their oval or rounded shape. The wing-covers are truncated 

 posteriorly, instead of being rounded off, and form a parallelogram, to the anterior end 

 of which is applied the base of the triangle formed by the tapering thorax and small 

 head. The short stout antennae project in the form of a V. The beetle, about one-fifth 

 of an inch long, is of a tawny-reddish colour above, with irregular darker spots and lines 

 upon the elytra, the legs are yellow. Each wing-cover has three raised lines, with the 

 intervening spaces deeply punctured. The larvae mine in the leaves of various trees, 

 those of the apple among others, and are, when full-grown, about one-fourth of an inch 

 long. They pupate in the leaves, and about a week afterward the beetles come forth 

 from their mines, and may be found upon oaks, hawthorns, etc. There is a smaller and 

 darker variety of this species, of which I took several specimens last season on elms. 



Chelimorpha argtis, Licht. (Cribraria, Fab.), is an interesting beetle, and is among 

 the largest of our Chrysomelidse. Some specimens appear neai-ly as large as potato 

 beetles, but they are not neai'ly so stoutly built. They are known as tortoise beetles 

 from the great resemblance they bear in figure to those reptiles. The sides of the thoi-ax 

 are flattened, and project so as to hide the head, while the ample elytra also entirely hide 

 the body. The under surface of the body, and the legs are black, but the thorax and 

 elytra are ochraceous-yellow, the former having six small black dots, the latter fifteen, 

 varying in size. The beetle feeds upon various plants. Packard mentions it as " found 

 in all its stages on the leaves of the milk-weed late in July and early in August, and in 

 one instance it occurred in abundance on the leaves of the raspberry." It feed s here 

 upon convolvulus very frequently. The larva is a broad and thick yellow grub, three- 

 fourths of an inch long, and partially covered by its cast larval-skin. The pupa (^att ached 

 to a leaf) is more broad and flattened ; it is of a dark colour, but covered with a wh itish 

 powder. Two stout spines project from each side of the thorax, and five smaller ones 

 from each side of the abdomen. 



