REPORT OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST I9II 6l 



Description, The adult beetle is about one-fourth of an inch 

 long with the head, appendages, under surface and a median 

 triangular area, widening posteriorly, on the wing covers coal 

 black. The remainder of the wings and the dorsum of the 

 thorax are orange red. The thorax is irregularly and deeply 

 punctured and the wing covers strongly ridged and ornamented 

 with deep, nearly flattened, thickly set rows of punctures. 



The full-grown larva is a trifle over one-fourth of an inch long, 

 with the head, thoracic shield, true legs and anal shield coal 

 black, the remainder of the body being yellowish white; the 

 segmentation is very distinctly marked and the abdominal seg- 

 ments bear conspicuous lateral tubercles, those on the second 

 to seventh being tipped with black and with a black, chitinous 

 point. The brown spiracles are circular. 



The egg is short, oval in outline and flattened, the two sides 

 being milk white when first laid. 



The mine of this insect is equally visible on both sides of 

 the leaf, pale green, slightly tinged with brown, its surface being 

 slightly roughened and the margin irregularly undulated. 



Distribution. This leaf beetle appears to be confined largely 

 to the upper austral life zone. It is common throughout Long 

 Island and probably occurs in the southern portion of the Hudson 

 valley, at least. It has been recorded from Massachusetts, Con- 

 necticut, Pennsylvania, throughout New Jersey, Maryland, 

 Washington, Virginia, West Virginia, southern Ohio, Kentucky, 

 and generally distributed in Indiana and Missouri. 



Food plants. The beetle feeds by preference on the leaves of 

 the black locust. It has also been recorded as attacking the 

 3^oung leaves of red oak, has been found on white oak, beech, 

 birch, hawthorn, apple, red clover, hog peanut and soja beans. 

 The larvae have been observed in the leaves of false indigo 

 fAmorpha fruticosa). It also occurs on several other 

 food plants. 



Life history. The beetles evidently winter' in any sheltered 

 place, and in the vicinity of Washington, at least, make their 

 appearance as soon as the leaves of- the locust trees have fully 

 developed. At this time they eat small, oblong holes in the 

 leaves, and later in the season skeletonize the upper surface. 

 The eggs are laid on the under side of the leaves and are partly 

 covered with an excrementaceous secretion. They hatch in 

 about six to eight days, the young larvae breaking through the 

 egg shell on the under side of the egg mass and gnawing at once 



