LEAF-BEETLES. 



169 



ing plants they are so curious, and so often mailed as "gold-bugs" 

 to the entomologist, that a few words about them may not be 

 amiss. 



In these beetles the ovate and almost quadrate body is flat- 

 tened below and convex above ; the head is nearly or quite con- 

 cealed Ijeneath the prothorax and the uTargins of the latter and of 

 the elytra are br,)adly expanded, in some cases forming an almost 

 circular outline, and in this way resembling the shell of a tortoise. 

 This resemblance is heightened in at least one case, (Coptocycia 

 chiT'afa Fab.), l>y four dark projections of the central dark color 

 of the wing-covers, which marks look like the Inroad legs of a 

 turtle (Fig. 1/3 ">• lu another case (C. i^itflafa Oliv.), only the 

 front legs of a turtle are painted upon the frontal sides of the 

 elvtra. 



Fig. 174. — Coptocycia bicolor. Fab. — After Riley. 



As alreadv mentioned these beetles, when happy, are of bril- 

 li^mt colors, sometimes ornamented with black spots or longitudin- 

 al lines. One of our most common species, the Cassida bicolor 

 Fab., (Fig. 174), so destructive to morning-glories and sweet- 

 potatoes, is, during its wedding season, like a drop of l)urnished 

 gold, which towards night is apt to fade to a peculiar pearly lus- 

 ter. Unfortunately such colors are not "fast," but disappear 

 after the death of the insect. It is even claimed that the bright 

 colors of these insects are dependent upon the emotions of the 

 beetles. 



