64 YOUNG COLLECTOR'S HANDBOOK OF BEETLES. 



ago, when every one who found an insect among his potatoes at 

 once wrote to the local newspaper to announce the appearance 

 of the dreaded enemy. Some of these blunders were compara- 

 tively venial, as when the common Ladybirds (beetles somewhat 

 similar in general appearance) happened to do duty as Colorado 

 Potato-Beetles ; but others were monstrously wide of the mark, 

 as when the larva of the Death's Head Hawk-Moth (Acherontia 

 Atropos), a great yellow-striped caterpillar six inches long, was 

 the supposed beetle. An even more absurd case once fell under 

 my own notice. An Irishman went down on the quay, and 

 found a crustaceous animal, closely allied to the wood-lice, but 

 much larger, which is very common on the sea-shore, running 

 along a tow-rope. He at once seized it, exclaiming, " Here's 

 the Colorado Potato-Beetle just landing from America ! " and 

 took it home with him, when he immediately wrote to the 

 paper ; and there was quite a sensation in the town for a day or 

 two, until the mistake was discovered and exposed. 



