AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. 109 



North Norway, Me., May 5, 1896. 

 Mr. F. L. Harvey: 



Dear Sir — The beetles referred to have appeared in large numbers. 

 They can be seen flying on warm days near the patch. They attack 

 everything in the shape of raspberries and blackberries, wild or cul- 

 tivated. They have never yet done the blackberries much harm, 

 seeming to prefer the blackcaps. They do not molest the strawber- 

 ries close by. I did not spray last season. I have not noticed a 



second brood. 



Yours truly, 



W. C. SYMONDS. 

 History. 



This insect was first reported injurious to strawberries in Canada, 

 as early as 1873. Since then it has done considerable damage to 

 strawberries. The larvae working in the roots and crown of the 

 plant and the beetles eating the foliage. It is a g-eneral feeder (poly- 

 phagous) being known to feed upon juniper, walnut, hickory, black 

 locust, hypericum, solidago, etc. Prof. Forbes reports it feeding 

 upon raspberry leaves in 1884, but does not say it did serious damage. 

 The cases referred to above would seem to be the first instances of 

 great damage being done to raspberries and so far as we know, injury 

 to the buds early in the season has not been reported. So far as we 

 know it has never before been found feeding on blackberries. It has 

 never been reported to the Station as doing injury to strawberries in 

 Maine. That it should first appear in injurious numbers upon an 

 unusual food plant is strange. The larvae have hitherto only been 

 found in strawberry roots. It will be interesting to learn whether the 

 raspberries were near strawberry patches, and whether the larvae 

 attack the roots of raspberries and blackberries. The following 

 description of the larva and pupa we take from Prof. Forbes' account, 

 as we have not had them for study. 



Description. 

 Larva — "White, 3 to 4 mm.; (.12 to .16 in.) long, and half as wide. 

 The head and first segment pale yellowish brown." We have never 

 seen larvae taken in Maine. 



Pupa — "White except the eyes and mandibles which 



show red or black through the pupa skin. The head is 



bent against the breast and the leg's folded against the 



Fig. 6. ^ body beneath." 



Perfect Insect a small beetle about one-eighth of an inch long, 



usually polished black. The wing covers marked with longitudinal 



rows of pits. The thorax irregularly pitted with smaller depressions 



than those on the wings. The body stout. The legs brown. 



Mr. Saunders says this insect is about three-tenths of an inch long. 

 Out of sixteen sj)ecimens measured none exceeded 3.5 mm., and most 

 were only 3 mm. or about one-eightb inch long. 



