THE AMERICAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



species, just now referred to as being almost 

 the exact counterpart in coloring- of our Clubbed 

 Tortoise-beetle, occurred in the Botanic Garden 

 at Calcutta npon a convolvulus ; but to what 

 genus this insect belongs, authors do not in- 

 form us. 



The lai'vse of all the Tortoise-beetles, belong- 

 ing to the genera with the body greatly flat- 



[Pig. -2.] 



-(b) brick-rod and Wa 



tened {Gassida and 

 Coptocycla) , always 

 have the prickles that 

 project from their bo- 

 dies sprangled or bar- 

 bed, as will be re- 

 marked from our tig- 

 ures 174, 177, 179 and 

 180. In the genus 

 ( Chelyviorplia ), to 

 which belongs a brick-red insect with black 

 spots {Ch. crihraria, Fabr., Fig. '2 a, pupa; 

 b beetle) found upon Milkweed (Asclejnas), 

 and which has the body greatly loundcd above 

 with scarcely any lateral flange, (he larva, 

 as observed by Dr. Packard, has the prickles 

 smooth and not sprangling. In the gonus Phys- 

 onota, to which belongs a new species figured 

 herewith, the Five-dotted Tortoise-beclle {Ph. 

 quinquepunctata,\).R])., 

 Fig. 3, b), and which 

 is intermediate in form 

 between the last named 

 genus . (Chelymorjjha) , 

 and those with the body 

 greatly flat tened (Cas- 

 sida, Coptocycla, De- 

 loyala), the prickles of "^ " 



the larva are also Colors-(i-) sreenish-yellow. 



smooth, as may be seen by referring to Figure 

 3 a. Thus it results that structural dilfer- 

 ences in the perfect beetle are accompanied 

 by corresponding structural differences in the 

 larva.* 



As a general rule, to which as usual there are 

 several exceptions, it is also the case that struc- 



* We .annex the scientilic description of tlie Five-dotted 

 Tortoise-beetle. Thegenns was determined Ibrus in l8G5hy 

 Br. J. L. LeConte, according to Boheiuan's arrajigenieiit 

 of the Family. 



PllYSONOTA QUINQCEPU.NCTATA, n. sp. Pale greenisli yel- 

 low. Head with the basal half of the antenna' polisheil both 

 above and below, and black above; the terniiiial h:ill'<)|ja(|ue 

 and black both above and below. Thorax ]ii)li,slH'il and 

 glabrous, with three black spot.s behiiul the iiii(hUe, eciiii- 

 distantfrom each otller and from tlle hind tlmnicic angles; 

 the middle S])ot ofli ii el.iii,;;air ;inil ahvav.-i mure advanced 

 than the other two. Uel'iuT [\w iiiicldle lik'uk .spot a double 

 dark olive spot, coniiiosed of two trapezoidal spots trans- 

 versely arranged and not iinfrecpu'ntly inore er less couHuent 

 with each other. Scttlcl )jale. Elytra, sparsely and rather 

 coarsely punctured, with all but the e.vterior margin of a 

 more or less i)ale dull olive color, the olive-colored portion, 

 of each elytrum dotted with pale yellow and with a large 

 pale yellow round spot always a little before the middle, the 

 pale yellow dots and spots slightly raised and impunctate. 

 Thorax beneath a little vaviecT with black. Venter, except 



tural differences in this group of plant-feeding 

 insects are accompanied by structural differences 

 in the groups of plants upon which they ordi- 

 narily occur. "We have seen that certain genera 

 (Ckissida and Coptocycla) are peculiarly at- 

 tached to the Convolvulns Family ; that another 

 genus (Deloyala) haunts the Solanum Family; 

 and that a fourth genus (Chelymorpha) is gen- 

 erally Ibund on Milkweed. The genus to which 

 the Five-spotted Tortoise-beetle belongs (Phys- 

 onota) seems to be confined to the botanical 

 Family Composilm ; for although we have not 

 been able to ascertain the food-plant of this par- 

 ticular species, we have observed the One-dot- 

 ted Tortoise-beetle (Physotwf.a nnipunctata, 

 Say), feeding in the larva state upon a Sow- 

 thistle (iSonchus) ; and as the name denotes, the 

 Sunflower Tortoise-beetle (Phys. heliantki, 

 Kandall), which we were assured by Dr. Le 

 Conte in 18()5 is rightfully referred to this genus 

 must feed upon Sunflower (Ilelianthus) . 



In the second and third number of our first vol- 

 ume w'o gave an account of eleven distinct spe- 

 cies of insects, including the Black Blister-beetle 

 {Lytia alrala), that attack the potato. The 

 Black-rat Blister-beetle (Lytia m.urlna), wliich 

 is frequently confounded with the Black Blis- 

 ler-Beetle, though the former appears early in 

 July and the latter not till the middle of Au- 

 gust and forepart of September, has since been 

 received by us from Mr. Mungcrof Lone Cedar, 

 Minnesota, with the statement that it nearly ru- 

 ined some lields of potatoes there in the fore- 

 part of July. To this formidable list of eleven 

 distinct kinds of Potato Bugs, we must now 

 add the Clubbed Tortoise-beetle, which no 

 doubt works upon the potato in the larva, as 

 well as in the perfect beetle state, though there 

 is as yet no direct evidence to that effeot. 



It thus turns out that there are no less than a 

 dozen different kinds of Potato Bugs, differing 

 from each other in size, in shape, in coloring, 

 in habits, in the number of broods produced in 

 a single year, in their geographical distribution, 

 and what is of most practical importance, in the 

 best and most available method of fighting 

 them. And yet we can scarcely take up a 

 paper, whelhor political or agricultural, without 

 stumbling upon some paragraph informing us 

 that "THE Potato Bug" is behaving thus and 



Ihe tips of the.ioint3, black. Lej/* with a more or less ex- 

 tensive :i.l)breviated superior spot on the femora, and an 

 exterior line on the libias bUu-k. Length 0..jis—:j. 50 inch. 

 Twenr.^ specimens. 



iUiglil hv riMdily confoMiided with Ph. nnipunctata. Say, 

 but (lilVer.s, l.st. bv tlie basal joint of the antenna' having no 

 black spot below; 'id. by tlie greater uinnber of spots on the 

 thorax (,') instead of 1); lid. liv the scutel being pale, not 

 dark; and 4th. by the disk of tlie elytra not being uuicolored 

 and uniformly punctured. 



