LEAF-BBETLES. 157 



the pro-thorax is in most cases ornamented with a number of 

 dark spots arranged symmetrically. One kind of such beetles is 

 frequently found squatting on the dry sidewalks very early in 

 spring, as if enjoying the warm rays of the sun. If touched it 

 disappears as if by magic, doing so by means of its powerful hind 

 legs, which enable it to leap very long distances. One of these 

 beetles is illustrated in Fig. i6o; it is D. xantJioiuelaena Dalm. 



A dark steel-blue species of the genus Haltica, ( H. bimargi- 

 nata Say), is sometimes exceedingly numerous and destructive 

 to the willows growing upon the shores of our lakes, hence be- 

 comes to a certain degree injurious. It is shown in Fig. 162. 



But not all flea-beetles are satisfied with such food, and to 

 the great sorrow of fruit-growers some show a most decided love 

 and preference for the foliage of fruit-producing plants. 



THK (;k.\pk-\im-: fle.\-beetlk. 

 {Haltica citalybca III. ). 



This little beetle, very uncommon until the last season, has 

 in some places become a very destructive pest to wild and culti- 

 vated grapes. It commences its operations very early in the sea- 

 son, and indicates its presence before long by eating the substance 

 of the buds as soon as they begin to swell, thus destroying many 

 bunches of grapes in the embryo. Prof. Saunders describes its 

 life-history as follows : 



"It goes on with this work for about a month, when it grad- 

 ually disappears. Before leaving, however, the beetle provides 

 for the continuance of its race by depositing little clusters of 

 orange-colored eggs on the under side of the young vine leaves, 

 which, in a few days, produce colonies of small, dark-brown 

 larvje, which feed on the upper side of the leaves, riddling them, 

 and when numerous they devour the whole leaf except the larger 

 veins, and .sometimes entirely strip the vines of foliage. Fig. 163 

 represents the larvse in various stages o^ growth at work on the 

 vine, accompanied also by some of the beetles. 



"fn two or three weeks the larva attains its full growth. 

 ^\ hen it is a little more than three-tenths of an inch long, usually 



