62 



SECOND ANNUAL RKPORT OF 



m 



6^ 



eral resemblance to the common Cucumber-beetle ( Diabrotica vit- 



{<''.!, Fabr.) 



These beetles may be seen quite thick around young peach and 

 apple trec>s quite early in the season, and a little later they venture 

 into the trees and pair off; but as soon as the Sweet-Potato plants 

 art- set, they leave everything else for them. ' 



THE GOLDEN TORrOISE-BEHTLE-Cawirfrt auridiatcea, Fabr. 



Next to the preceding species, the Golden Tortoise-beetle is the 

 most numerous on our sweet-potatoes; but it does not confine its 



injuries to that plant, for it is found 

 in equal abundance on the leaves of 

 '_ the Bitter-Sweet and on the different 

 [" kinds of Convolvulus or Morning 

 L Glory. The lava (Fig. 33, a, natural 

 size &, enlarged with the dung taken 

 i oin me fork), is of a dark brown 

 l'..r with a pale shade upon the 

 back. It carries its faBcifork directly over the back, and the ex- 

 crement is arranged in a more or less regular trilobed pattern. The 

 loaded fork still lies close to the back in the pupa, which is brown 

 like the larva, and chiefly characterized by three dark shades on the 

 transparent prothorax, one being in the middle and one at each side, 

 as represented at Figure 34, c. 



The perfect beetle (Fig. 34, d), when seen in all its splendor, is 

 one of the most beautiful objects that can well be imagined. It ex- 

 [Fig. 34.] actly resembles a piece of golden tinsel, and 



O 'yf- •'/ with its legs withdrawn and body lying flat to 



J" V' : '.\ Vyftjit' a leaf, the uninitiated would scarcely suppose 

 ' V'i - <• it to bo an insect, did it not suddenly take wing 

 ) while being observed. At first these beetles 

 W'v' $Jt$R ; m a dull deep orange color, which strongly 

 °^ & relieves the transparent edges of the wing-cov- 



ers and helmet, and gives conspicuousness to six black spots, two (in- 

 dicated in the figure) above, and two on each side. But in about a 

 week after they have left the pupa shell, or as soon as they begin to 

 copulate, they shine in all their splendor, and these black spots are 

 scarcely noticed. 



. THE PALE-THP3HED TORTOISE-BEETLE— Cassida pallida, Herbst. 



This species can scarcely be distinguished from the preceding. 

 It is of a somewhat broader, rounder form, and differs in partially 

 lacking the black spots on the wing-covers, and in having the thighs 

 entirely pale yellow, while in aurichalcea they are black at the base. 

 It likewise feeds upon the Sweet- Potato, and its larva differs only 

 from that of the former, in its spines being brighter and lighter col- 

 ored, and in having a dull orange head, and a halo of the same color 

 on the anterior portion of the body. 



