38 PROTECTION OF PLANTS — 1924-25 



Olivier first described the species in 1808 and placed it in the genus Colaspis. 

 Say described it in 1824 under the name Colaspis pretexta. In 1859, (1) Le- 

 Conte edited Say's writings and made a note under C. pretexta that it was the 

 same as Colaspis picipes Oliv. It is recorded as Eumolpiis metalicus Koch in 

 Melsheimer's catalogue and it is placed in Dejean's catalogue in Chalcophana, 

 a genus of which LeConte had never seen any description up to 1859. In 1892, 

 Horn (2) transferred picipes from Colaspis to Rhabdopterus, a genus erected 

 by Lefebvre in 1885. 



This insect and Tymnes nietasternalis resemble each other very closely and 

 it is difficult to separate them, but in R. picipes, the thoracic lobes are absent 

 behind the eyes, the thorax is more sparsely punctured and the metasternum 

 smooth. Horn considers the name picipes as misleading, as Olivier's figure 

 shows the insect to have pale legs. 



Distribution 



The insect is widely distributed throughout the United States and the 

 provinces of Ontario and Quebec in Canada. The following States are cited 

 in the literature read, — Indiana, Utah, Nebraska, Illinois, Dakota, south- 

 western Texas, Florida, Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, North Carolina, 

 New York and Massachusetts. There are twenty-nine specimens in the Cana- 

 dian National Collection, listed as follows, — Trenton, Ont., 3 VII. 1910, (Evans) ; 

 Western Ontario, (Evans) 3 sp.; Eastern Ontario (Evans) 3 sp.; Prince Edward 

 Co., Ont., 1. VII. 96, (Evans); Ottawa, Ont., 14. VIII, (Harrington) 4 .sp.; 

 Ottawa, Ont., 20. VI, (Harrington); Casselman, Ont., 21. VI. (Harrington); 

 Ottawa, Ont., 2. VIII, (Harrington— ); Montreal, Que., 26, VI. 1898, (Evans) 2 

 sp.; Hull, Que., 20. VII, (Harrington) ; Rougemont, Que., 12. VII. 1924 (Petch) 

 5 sp.; Alleghany, Penn., 2 sp., Iowa; Unlabelled 3 sp. In Chagnon's list of 

 Quebec Coleoptera it is listed as follows,' — Rouville Co., VII, (Chagnon); 

 Montreal and Jesus Isl., VII (Chagnon); Vaudreuil, Co., VII, (Chagnon.) 



Food plants 



The larva has been recorded only from the roots of cranberrj^ but the 

 beetle from quite a few plants. The recorded plants from the United States, 

 are,' — m5a-tle, basswood, grape, foliage and fruit of cranberry, wild grape, ink- 

 berry, blueberry, wild strawberry, dock, and fruit of the apple. In Canada 

 it has been collected from alder by Harrington, basswood by Chagnon and 

 apple foliage and fruit by the writer. 



Character and extent of Injury 



The larvae injure the plants mostly by completely devouring the fibrous 

 roots of cranberry, but, as a rule, only the bark is eaten from the large and .se- 



