1(> INSECT PESTS OF FARM, GARDEN AND ORCHARD 



several full-grown cutworms in a short time. Many instances 

 of the good work of this beetle are on record, among which one 

 by the late Professor J. A. Lintner may be cited, where he found 

 them eating large numbers of the corn-crambus sometimes 

 locally known as the corn bud-worm. Another somewhat larger 

 beetle, called by Professor J. H. Comstock " the Searcher " (Calo- 

 soma scrutator), and in fact one of the largest of the family, is a 

 brilliant metallic green, bordered with a dark purplish-blue, and 

 has the good quality of having a very particular appetite, causing 

 it to kill large numbers of caterpillars, but eating only part of each. 

 While in the earth as pupa? large numbers of the Colorado 

 potato-beetles are destroyed by members of 

 this family, and one species, Lebia grandis, 

 which is peculiar in that the wing-covers are 

 somewhat abbreviated, thus leaving the tip 

 of the abdomen exposed, has been noticed on 

 the plants eating the eggs and young larvae of 

 this old potato pest. 



Another valuable species is one called by 

 Dr. Riley the Murky Ground-beetle (Harpalus caliginosus). Its 

 larva is of considerable assistance to fruit-growers by eating 



FIG. 9 . Lebia gran- 

 dis. (After Riley.) 



FIG. 10. The murky ground-beetle (Harpalus caliginosus): adult at left; 

 a, krva; b, head of same; c, mandible. (After Riley.) 



large numbers of curculio larvae, which it secures from the plums 

 after they have fallen to the earth. From a glance at its formid- 

 able jaws, Fig. 10, b-c, it is easy to conjecture the fate of many a 

 curculio grub. 



