36 DISTRIBUTION AND DISPERSION OF I^HPTINOTARSA. 



large numbers by the continual promenading along the beach ; while in 

 New York they are reported to have stopped a train upon the New York 

 Central Railroad (New York Times). They were abundant everywhere 

 and by the end of the year had overrun the entire northern and eastern 

 part of the United States, excepting northern Maine. In Canada they were 

 still spreading to the northeast along the St. lyawrence River Valley. In 

 Virginia the boundary was pushed south into the highlands, but remained 

 stationary at the seacoast ; while in Kentucky the beetle was recorded from 

 the southern counties of the State. In the Mississippi Valley it was slowly 

 spreading in the south, but how fast or how far it is impossible to determine 

 because of the lack of data from that region. 



From the time the beetle had completely overrun the Northern States 

 fewer and fewer records of it are found as the years go by, and such as are 

 found are limited to notes and data of no value. The State reports and 

 agricultural papers contain no more notices of its spread, and as a result 

 the history of this beetle in the northeastern portion of the St. Lawrence 

 Valley or the migration into the Southern States can not be followed in any 

 detail. Almost all of the data of the southern spread for the last twenty 

 years would be wanting were it not for the careful collecting of records 

 concerning it by the Division of Entomology of the United States Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture. 



i8yy. — In this year the beetle was found in Knoxville, Tennessee (Nichol- 

 son, Can. Ent., vol. ix, p. 174, 1877). This author believes that it was 

 brought in with the seed from the north, but it is highly improbable that 

 this method of spreading the beetle ever occurs. Seed potatoes are always 

 sorted at frequent intervals, and I know from actual observation and experi- 

 ment that the beetles do not stay in potato sacks or barrels, but crawl out at 

 the first opportunity, and, moreover, it is not possible for them to pass the 

 winter in such situations, as death would certainly intervene. 



iSyS. — The continued spread of the beetle to the northeast resulted, in 

 1878, in the almost complete overrunning of the Dominion of Canada. It 

 was found at St. Johns, New Brunswick, and had spread through the 

 Maritime Provinces (Saunders). 



i8yg. — In this year, in the northwest, it was recorded from Manitoba 

 (Comstock, Can. Ent., vol. xi, p. 196, 1879), where it seems to have become 

 well established ; but whether it came from the east or from the original 

 area of distribution in the west we have no means of determining. It was 

 also reported in May from Lynchburg, Virginia (Cor. U. S. Dept. of Agr.). 



1880. — In this year the beetle was recorded from South Carolina (Riley, 

 Can. Ent., vol. xii, p. 173, 1880), and from Manitoulin Island, Lake Huron, 

 where it had been for a number of years, but had not thrived or made any 

 headway (Saunders, 1880). In the correspondence of the United States 



