THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



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THE MOTTLED TORTOISE-BEETLE- 

 [Fig. 35.] 



Oli 



[Fig. 36.] 



U 



-Cassida guttata, 



This species (Fig. 36) which is 

 the next most common of those 

 3§| found on the Sweet-Potato in the 

 i£§| latitude of St. Louis, is at once 

 ^ distinguished from all the others 

 here described, by being usually 

 6 black, with the shoulders black to 

 the extreme edge of the transpa- 

 rent wing covers. It is a very variable species, and is frequently more 

 or less speckled or mottled with gold, while more rarely it has a uni- 

 form golden appearance.f 



The larva, which is represented enlarged and with the dung re- 

 moved at Figure 35, a, is of a uniform green color, with a bluish shade 

 along the back, which shade disappears however whenever the insect 

 has fasted for a few hours. It carries its dung in irregular broad 

 masses, often branching as in the species next to be described. The 

 pupa (Fig. 35, 5,) is also of a uniform green color, with a conspicuous 

 black ring around the base of the first abdominal pair of spiracles. 

 Before changing to pupa and previous to each moult, this larva is in 

 the habit of removing the dung from its fork. 



THE BLACK-LEGGED TORTOISE-BEETLE— Cassia nigripes, Oliv. 



[Fig. 37.] 



aMffo, 



t 



m 



y"^Y 



This species, which is 

 likewise found on the 

 Sweet-Potato, is a little 

 the largest of those here- 

 tofore mentioned. The 

 beetle (Fig. 38) has the 

 power, when alive, of put- 

 ^^ting on a golden hue, but 

 is not so brilliant as C, 

 species it is at once distinguished by 

 its black legs and. three large con- 

 spicuous black spots on each wing-cover. The larva 

 (Fig. 37, Z>,) is of a pale straw color with the spines, 

 which are long, tipped with black ; and besides a dusky 



Ilffi MM shade along each side of the back, it has two dusky 

 j spots immediately behind the head, and below these 

 last, two larger crescent marks of the same color. The 

 dung is spread in a characteristic manner, extending 

 laterally in long shreds or ramifications. (See Fig. 37, a.) The pupa 



* This insect is referred by Boheman to the genus Co tocycla, which differs from Cassida by 

 more slander, not distinctly clavate and nearly filiform antennae. 



| This species has very probably been described under different names. It is C. evueiata, 

 Fabr. ; C. signifcr, Herbst, and from larvse found on the same batch of plants, and differing in no 

 respect whatever, I have bred specimens which were determined by Le Conte as C. ttabcato, Lee. 



aurichalcea, from which 

 its larger size and by 



[Fig. 38.] 



