fee IMPORTED BEM LEAP-BEETESE: 
(Galeruca xanthomelena* Schrank.) 
Order COLEOPTERA; family CHRYSOMELID &. 
The depredations of this pest have now become widely extended 
throughout the Northeastern States, rendering unsightly and almost 
worthless those most valuable shade trees of our cities—the elms. <As 
its injuries are so far unknown in the Mississippi Valley, the blighted 
appearance of the elms on the Department grounds in midsummer, and 
especially of the European varieties, at once attracted our attention 
when we first came to Washington, and a series of experiments was 
begun with a view of checking the ravages of the insect. The excel- 
lent opportunities thus offered for experiment and study have since been 
improved, and, with some prefatory passages in relation to the history 
and habits of the beetle, we will give the practical results reached. 
AN IMPORTATION FROM EUROPE. 
This beetle has done great mischief in the Old World, especially in 
Germany and France, and it is very important that the public know 
the best method of coping with it here. According to Glover, it was 
imported as early as 1837. Its distribution was formerly confined to 
limited areas near the coast, and its earlier attacks were notably about 
Baltimore and New Jersey. 
HABITS AND NATURAL HISTORY. 
The general characteristics of this insect have been pretty well studied 
abroad. Mr. E. Heegert has given an excellent account of its life his- 
tory, with a detailed description of the larva, and figures illustrating 
larva and pupa and anatomical details. More recently M. Maurice 
Girard{ has given a rather poor wood-cut illustration of the insect and 
its work, with the leading facts concerning its nomenclature and nat- 
*This is the Galeruca crategi Forst., and G. calmariensis Fabr. In Crotch’s Check 
List it appears as Galerucella xanthomelena. 
t Seventeenth contribution to the natural history of insects. Sitzungsberichte der. 
kais. Ac. Wiss., Wien, 1858, vol. 29, p. 100-120, 6 pl. 
t Note sur la Galéruque de Vorme. Bull. d’Insectologie Agricole, 1878, 11, pp. 
113-116. 
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