130 COLEOPTERA. 



country these beetles begin to come out of their winter 

 quarters towards the end of April, and continue to appear till 

 the latter part of May. Soon after their first appearance 

 they pair, and probably lay their eggs on the leaves of the 

 vine, and perhaps on other plants also. A second brood of 

 the beetles is found on the grape-vines towards the end of 

 July. I have not had an opportunity to trace the history 

 of these insects any further, and consequently their larvae are 

 unknown to me. Mr. David Thomas has given an interest- 

 ing account of their habits and ravages in the twenty-sixth 

 volume of Silliman's " American Journal of Science and 

 Arts." These brilliant insects were observed by him, in the 

 spring of 1831, in Cayuga County, N. Y., creeping on the 

 vines, and destroying the buds, by eating out the central 

 succulent parts. Some had burrowed even half their length 

 into the buds. When disturbed, they jump rather than fly, 

 and remain where they fall for a time without motion. 

 During the same season these beetles appeared in unusu- 

 ally great numbers in New Haven, Conn., and its vicinity, 

 and the injury done by them was " wholly unexampled." 

 " Some vines were entirely despoiled of their fruit buds, so 

 as to be rendered, for that season, barren." Mr. Thomas 

 found the vine-leaves were infested, in the years 1830 and 

 1831, by " small chestnut-colored smooth worms," and sus- 

 pecting these to be the larvae of the beetle (which he called 

 Chrysomela vitivora), he fed them in a tumbler, containing 

 some moist earth, until they were fully grown, when they 

 buried themselves in the earth. " After a fortnight or so," 

 some of the beetles were found in the tumbler. Hence there 

 is no doubt that the former were the larvae of the beetles, 

 and that they undergo their transformations in the ground. 

 A good description of the larvae, and a more full account of 

 their habits, seasons, and changes, are still wanted. 



In England, where the ravages of the turnip flea-beetle 

 have attracted great attention, and have caused many and 

 various experiments to be tried with a view of checking 



