The Biology of Maine Species of Altica. 181 



little holes through the leaf, so that their work is as character- 

 istic as, and very different from, that of the larvae. 



Mating. As is usual among chrysomelids, the beetles re- 

 main in copulation several hours, and each female pairs several 

 times in the course of the season. 



Number of eggs deposited by one female. The writer has 

 no data as to the number of eggs which one female is capable 

 of depositing, but it is probably at least as high as that of the 

 dogwood flea-beetle (see page 170), as a single female cap- 

 tured on July 22 deposited 51 eggs before the end of the month. 



Food Plants. 



Natural Food Plants. The only plants on which the writer 

 has ever found this species in the field, either in Maine or Con- 

 necticut, belong to the genus Rosa. They seem to prefer the 

 wild roses, but the writer has seen them several times on cul- 

 tivated roses. The Massachusetts and New York specimens 

 in the Boston Museum of Natural History are also labelled 

 "wild rose". A number of laboratory tests to determine the 

 possible range of food plants is recorded below. 



FOOD PLANTS OF THE ADULT ROSE FLEA-BEETLE.* 



(i) Eaten readily. 



Wild rose, cultivated rose, Japanese rose, wild straw- 

 berry, cultivated strawberry. 



(ii) Eaten indifferently. 



Fireweed, marsh fireweed. 



(iii) Refused. 



Hazel, gray birch, alder, white elm, smooth gooseberry, 

 cultivated spiraea, meadow sweet, apple, mountain ash, shad 

 bush, choke cherry, red cherry, wild plum, grape, rasp- 

 berry, evening primrose, red osier dogwood, basswood, 

 low blueberry, hawthorn, golden-rod. 



FOOD PLANTS OF THE LARVA OF THE ROSE FLEA-BEETLE. 



(i) Eaten readily. 



Wild strawberry, cultivated strawberry, wild rose, Japan- 

 ese rose, cultivated rose. 



(ii) Eaten indifferently. 

 Marsh fireweed. 



