746 



REPORT UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 



Fig. 14.— Turuip Flea- 

 beetle, larva and 

 pupa. 



into the ground for this purpose; but he has no notes of species feeding 

 beneath the ground. Harris was of the opinion that the striped cucum- 

 bre-beetles, in the hirval state, fed on the roots of plants, but was never 

 able to find them. I have demonstrated many years ago that they feed 

 on the roots of melon, cucumber, squash, and pumpkin vines, and ever 

 since I attempted to raise any kind of vine my greatest trouble has been 

 not to find them. 



" The Chrysomelians, probably, as a rule, feed on the leaves of plants 

 in the larval state, but in my limited researches I have found the major- 

 ity of them beneath the ground. According to undisputed authority, 

 they often congregate together in great numbers and do great injury to 

 the leaves of plants, even so as to compare with the ravages of cater- 

 pillars. I, myself, have observed some of this work. 



"As the cucumber-beetle exclusively raises its young on the roots of 

 the Cucurbitaceous (gourd) family-, so from these observations I am led 

 to believe from analogy that the striped turnip beetle raises its young 

 always on the roots of the Cruciferous (mustard) family. 

 " The striped turnip-beetle (Fig. 14) is less than one-tenth of an inch 

 in length. Its general ai»pearance is black, with 

 a broad, wavy-yellowish or buff colored stripe 

 .on each wing-cover. The larva (Fig. 14) is white 

 with a faint darkened or dusky median line on 

 the anterior half of the body, being probably 

 the coutentsof the alimentary canal seen through 

 the semi-translucent skin. The head is horny 

 and light Drown. On the posterior extremity is 

 a brown spot equal to the heall in size ; and 

 there are six true legs and one proleg. In its form and general appear- 

 ance it somewat resembles the larva of the cucumber-beetle, but it 

 is much smaller. Its motion is slow, arching up the abdomen slightly, 

 on paper or any smooth surface, in such a position that its motions 

 are necessarily awkward and unnatural, because in a state of nature 

 it never crawls over the surface, but digs and burrows among the roots 

 in the ground. Its length is 0.35 of an inch, and breadth 0.00 of an 

 inch. It feeds uiion roots beneath the ground. 



"The pupa is naked, white, and transforms in a little earthern cocoon, 

 pressed and prepared by the larva, in the ground near its feeding-place. 

 This period is short." 



The Turnip-Butterfly, Pieris oleracea (Harris). — Devouring^ the leaves of the 

 turnip; a velvety dark-green caterpillar, chauu;iug to an unspotted white butterfly. 



Though this butterfly is spread all over the northern portion of our conti- 

 nent from Maine to Utah, and is more abun- 

 dant in Colorado and Utah (having prob- 

 ably recently been introduced there) than 

 in the Eastern States, so far as my observa- 

 tions have extended, it is nowhere particu- 

 larly distinctive. As I am somewhat de- 

 pendent on my own observations regarding 

 the transformations of this delicate-tinted 

 butterfly, I extract the following notice 

 of it from my Guide to the Study of In- 

 sects : " We have found the larvae of this 

 species on turnip leaves in the middle of 

 August at Chamberlain Farm, in north- 



FiG. 15.— Turnip Butterfly 

 and Caterpillar. 



ern ]\Iaiue. They are of a dull green, and covered with dense hairs. 



