THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 209 
was the food-plant.”. Mr. Sealy also called attention to a 
peculiarity in the formation of the hind wings of the male, 
specimens of which he exhibited, there being a large pouch 
on the anal margin, filled with fluffy hair. 
Colorado Potato-beetle-—Mr. M‘Lachlan read a letter he 
had received from an Englishman residing in Pueblo, 
Colorado, U.S., stating that he had grown potatoes in various 
parts of the Union, and that he was satisfied it was not 
necessary for the potato-beetle to have pieces of haulm to 
support it whilst crossing the Atlantic, as he had found the 
insect in his potato-pits eating the tubers greedily ; and that 
unless the English authorities took some steps to prevent the 
importation of potato-bulbs, he believed the beetle would 
soon be in this country. Mr. M‘Lachlan drew attention to 
the following remark by Lieut. W. L. Carpenter, in his 
Report of the Zoological Collections made in Colorado 
during the summer of 1873 (extracted from the Annual 
Report of the U.S. Geological and Geographical Survey) 
with reference to the Colorado potato-beetle:—“ This insect 
is still marching eastward, not a single specimen having been 
seen west of the dividing-ridge. It is probable that, should 
the potato be cultivated on the western water-shed, it would 
be free from the ravages of this destructive insect for a 
number of years; but that it would ultimately make its 
appearance in that region through the agency of the seed. 
This I believe to be the manner of their introduction to 
distant localities, as they are sluggish travellers, and quite 
incapable of spreading so rapidly by their own instinct. 
This belief is further sustained by their continued absence 
from the Salt Lake basin, occasioned by the cheapness of 
vegetables in the Mormon settlements excluding the im- 
portation of potatoes from Colorado. Not found at a greater 
altitude than eight thousand feet.” Mr. Bates believed the 
distribution of the beetle depended more upon climatic con- 
ditions. The native home of the insect was the eastern 
plateaus of the Rocky Mountains, as far south as Mexico; 
and the climate of the West Coast of America being much 
more like the West Coast of Europe, their Fauvas also bore 
a great resemblance. He believed the absence of the insect 
from the west of the Rocky Mountains to depend upon the 
difference of climate ; and the same cause might be expected 
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