'2 THIRD ANNUAL REPORT OF 



"The rascals alluded to are a beetle of the Ohrysoniefa fanriiv, 

 and are the Brown Colaspis,* Colaspis bru miea, Fab.' It is an oval, 

 drab-colored beetle, nearly twice as long as broad, and nearly two- 

 tenths of an inch in length, having the outer edge of his wing covers 

 black, and also the under side of its body and the tip of its antenna . 

 It is rather a common insect throughout the United States, appearing 

 in the latter part of June, each year, and continuing through the 

 month of July. I have frequently gathered it from the wild grape- 

 vine, the Cinquefoil or Potentilla, and some other plants, but have 

 never known it to invade the cultivated grape until this year. 



It has this season been the worst enemy that has attacked the 

 Tine in my neighborhood— riddling the leaves with small round holes, 

 interspersed with large irregular" ones— and I hear of it in several 

 other parts of the country. * * * 



Wherever the Leaf-folder- (Fig.24) abounds, this beetle will almost 

 invariably be found in conjunction with it in the fold of the leaf. On 

 finding it so invariably in this fold, I at first supposed that it merely 

 took advantage of the position for shelter, little suspecting that it 

 would feed upon the worm, since the family to which it belongs is 

 essentially herbivorous, and the Leaf folder is so very active ; but from 

 having found numbers of the shrunken and half-dead worms, I was 

 led to conjecture that it does actually prey upon them ; just as 

 many true bugs (Hepiiptera) though living naturally on the juices 

 of plants, will still appropriate and relish those of certain caterpillars. 

 Thus may one great pest serve to check another! 



Of the natural history of this beetle nothing has hitherto been 

 jsnown. As the beetle was often found upon and greedily devours 

 the leaves of the Strawberry, and as a white worm was known to in- 

 jure the roots of that plant, I interred several years ago (Prairie 

 Farmer Annual 1808, p. 56), that this worm was the larva of the Co- 

 laspis. From the facts, however, that the larva of the European Co- 

 laspis Barbara was described as a hexapod, blackish, glabrous grub 



* Dr. Fitch referred this insect to brunnea, Fabr., and Mr. Walsh (Practical Entomologist, II, 

 p. 68) criticised his course, and referred the species to flavida, Say. I adopt Say's name simply 

 because it best indicates the general appearance of the insect, and not because I think Mr. Walsh 

 was right in his strictures. I have kindly been allowed to examine Dr. Fitch's specimens ; hare 

 examined specimens in other large Eastern collections, and those in the Walsh collection, and am 

 convinced that the difficulty between the above two authors arises from the confounding of varie- 

 ties with species. It is here, as in almost every other genus and Family, the closet systematist 

 divides up and arranges with insufficient knowledge of the variation which species are subject to, 

 and this was especially the case in years gone by, when every little colorational difference was 

 generally supposed to be immutable. The naturalist, therefore, who studies insects for other and 

 more laudable purposes than the mere naming and classifying of them, though fully aware of the 

 importance and necessity of good and clear nomenclature, may well despair of bringing order out 

 of the confusion which often exists, and which the miserably short and incomplete descriptions of 

 older authors have had much to do in causing. The economist can spend his time more profitably, 

 and so long as he always adds the authority to the name he uses, there will be no danger of causing 

 more contusion, and he can coolly disregard the interminable disputes between different authors aa 

 to the proper technical name by which an insecl should be known. In the present case, [simply give 

 ,i .i- my opinion that brunnea, Fabr., siiilla, Fabr., and flavida, Say. are all varieties of one species, 

 i i i ause specimens according with each are found in the same vineyard, and because .Say himself 

 a variation in flavida, which differs much more from his description than does either brunnea 

 Tor suilla. Mr. Walsh gives the antenna of flavida as having the last joint or two, and the tip of 

 the last joint but four, brown -Mack, but there is variation here, and the dark color on the last joint 

 hut four is often obsolete. The exterior edges of the elytra are either concolorous or of all shades 

 of brown to black, and the same may be said of the sutural edges. There is also a somewhat 

 larger form, which must certainly be referred to the same species, which has the punctures so 

 much less profound as to give it a much smoother and more highly polished appearance. 



