ELM LEAF BEETLE IN NEW YORK STATE 9 



margin of the wing-covers a reddish yellow. The coal-black 

 eyes and the median spot of the same color on the head are 

 prominent. On the thorax there is a median black spot (not 

 infrequently two triangular ones) of somewhat variable shape 

 and size and a pair of lateral ovoid ones. The median black line 

 of the wing-covers is separated from the broad lateral stripes 

 of the same color by a variable greenish yellow. The elytra 

 or wing-covers are minutely and irregularly punctured and bear 

 a fine pubescence and at the base of each elytron there is an 

 elongated black spot in the middle of the greenish yellow stripe. 

 The markings are usually constant in the adult but the color is 

 quite variable during life and changes more or less after death. 

 Some beetles emerging from winter quarters have the con- 

 spicuous greenish yellow stripes of the wing-covers nearly 

 obscured by black. The antennae are a golden yellow with more 

 or less brownish markings. The legs are yellowish with the 

 tibiae and tarsi marked with brown. The under surface of the 

 head and prothorax is yellowish, that of the metathorax and 

 abdomen black. 



The orange yellow eggs are deposited in irregular rows side 

 by side, forming clusters of from five to 26 or more on the under 

 surface of the leaf. Several of these are shown natural size in 

 fig. 7. Each egg is somewhat fusiform, attached vertically by 

 its larger end and with the free extremity tapering to a paler, 

 rounded point (pi. 1, fig. 1, la). Under a powerful lens the fine 

 reticulations of the eggshell are easily seen. 



The recently hatched larva (pi. 1, fig. 2) is about -j^^ inch long, 

 with the head, thoracic shield, numerous tubercles, hairs and 

 legs jet black. The integument between the tubercles is a dark 

 yellow. The tubercles are so large and the hairs so prominent 

 that the prevailing color of the larva at this stage is black. As 

 the larva increases in size and molts, the stiff black hairs become 

 less consi)icuous and the yellowish markings more prominent 

 (pi. 1, fig. 3) till the last stage. A full grown larva is about | 

 inch long, more flattened than in the earlier stages, with a broad 

 yellowish stripe dorsally and a narrower stri])e of the same 

 color on each side, the yellow stripes being se])arjite(l by broad 

 dark bands lliickly set with tubercles bearing short, dark 

 colored hairs. The dorsal yellow stripe is broken on each side 



