THE AMERICAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



237 



this is an anal fork, upon which they deposit 

 their excrement, and which iu some is turned 

 up and lies flat upon their backs ; aud iu others 

 fonns different angles, from very acute to very 

 obtuse, with their body; and occasionally is 

 unbent and in the same direction with it." 

 Reaumur is referred to as authority for these 

 statements, and the language would lead us to 

 suppose that the forks were thus variously car- 

 ried by different species; but Reaumur never 

 said anything of the sort. His language has 

 been poorly rendered, for he distinctly referred 

 to the different positions which the same insect 

 could give to the fork, and we believe that the 

 peculiarity mentioned above has never been 

 observed in the larvce of any other species of the 

 genus. 



"When full fed, this larva attaches itself to the 

 underside of the leaf, and in two days the skin 

 bursts open ou the back, and is worked down 

 towards the tail ; when the pupa, at first pale, 

 soon acquires a dull brownish color, the narrow 

 whitish tail, which still adheres posteriorly, 

 being significant of the species. (See Fig. 174, 

 3.) 



The beetle (Fig. 174, 4) is of a pale yellow, 

 striped with black, and though bi'oader and 

 vastly different scientifically, still bears a gen- 

 eral resemblance to the common Cucumber 

 beetle {Dkibrotica vittata, Fabr.) 



The Golden Tortoise-beetle. 



( Cassida aurichalcea, Fabr.) 

 [Fig. 177.] 



Colors — («) brown and black; (p) brown. 

 Next to the preceding species, tlie Golden 

 Tortoise -beetle is the most numerous on our 

 sweet-potatoes; but it does not confine its inju- 

 ries to that plant, for it is found iu equal abund- 

 ance on the leaves of the Bitter-sweet and on 

 the different kinds of Convolvulus or Morning 

 Glory. The larva (Fig. 177 a, natural size ; b, 

 enlarged with the dung taken from tlie fork) , is 

 of a dark brown color, with a pale shade upon 

 the back. It carries its fiecifork immediately 

 over the back, and the excrement is arranged in 

 a more or less regular trilobed pattern. The 

 loaded fork still lies close to tlie back in the 

 pupa, which is brown like the larva, and chiefly 



chai-acterized by three dark shades on the trans- 

 parent prothorax, one being in the middle and 

 one at each side, as represented at Fig. 178, r. 



The perfect beetle (Fig. 178, d), when seen in 

 all its splendor, is one of the most beautiful 

 objects that can well 

 be imagined. It exact- 

 ly resembles a piece of 

 golden tinsel, and with 

 its legs withdrawn and 

 body lying flat to a 

 leaf, the uninitiated 

 would scarcely sup- 

 Coiors-(c) brown; (rf) golden, pose it to be an insect, 

 did it not suddenly take wing while being ob- 

 served. At first these beetles are of a dull deep 

 orange color, which strongly relieves the trans- 

 parent edges of the wing-covers and helmet, aud 

 gives conspicuousness to six black spots, two 

 (indicated in our figure) above, aud two on each 

 side. But in about a week after they have left 

 the pupa shell, or as soon as they begin to copu- 

 late, they shine in all their splendor, aud these 

 black spots are scarcely noticed. 



The Pale-thighed Tortoise-beetle. 

 {Gassida pallida, Herbst.) 

 This species can scarcely be distinguished from 

 the preceding. It is of a somewhat broader, 

 rounder form, and diffei's in lacking the black 

 spots on the wing-covers, and in having the 

 thighs entirely pale yellow, while in aurichalcea 

 they are black at the base. It likewise feeds 

 upon the Sweet-potato, and its larva differs only 

 from that of the former, in its spines being 

 brighter and lighter colored, and iu having a 

 dull orange head, and a halo of the same color 

 on the anterior portion of the body. 



The Mottled Tortoise-beetle. 



(Gassida guttata, Oliv.*) 

 [Fig. 179.] 



cl 



Colors— (a and h) green ; (d) gold and black . 



This species (Fig. 179 d), which is the next 



•I'his species, as we ai'e informed by Dr. Le Conte, is 

 referred by Boheman to the genus Cofitoci/cia, which differs 

 from Cassida by more slender, not distinctly clavate and 

 nearly filiform antenna'. Dr. I.e Conte has kindly promised 

 to furnish us a synopsis of our carsidjE, which we hope to 

 publish in either the first or second number of the next 

 volume. 



