Report of the State Entomologist. 207 



The following is added to the above in relation to the supposed 

 habits of the larva : " The habits [carnivorous] of the two are doubt- 

 less the same, or nearly the same. Spare their lives, I beg and pray 

 you, for your own sake, ye pitiless haters of everything that ye have 

 chosen to label with the three ominous letters — B U G ! Ye may not, 

 perhaps, care for bugs, but I know that ye dearly love peaches." (The 

 Pennsylvania soldier-bug has been found abundantly in and beneath 

 peaches lying upon the ground, infested with the curculio.) 



The eggs of the margined soldier-beetle are probably deposited 

 loosely in masses in the ground during the month of July, to hatch 

 into larvse and to mature slowly, after the habits of the other species 

 with which it has been compared, as detailed in the Second Report of 

 the United States Entomological Commission, p. 261-2. 



C. marginatus may Feed on the Q,uince Curculio. 

 The holes in the quinces, of which mention is made in the commu- 

 nication given on page 204, if originally smooth and round, were prob- 

 abl,y bored by the larva of the quince curculio {Gonotrachelus cratcegi 

 Walsh) as it emerged from the fruit in August or September for its 

 winter burial in the ground. Through these holes the soldier-beetle 

 larva might enter the fruit in search of the remaining curculio larvse, 

 of which there are often several in the same quince, as these would 

 doubtless prove quite as palatable to it as the apple-worm. 



Observations Desired. 



Careful observation and account of the actions of the larvse of the 



soldier-beetles in their search for, and while preying upon, the apple 



worm or other insects, would be all acceptable contribution to their 



history, which we hope may be ere long supplied by some of our fruit 



growers who have recognized the importance to them of the study of 



insect-habits. 



Description of the Beetle. 



Yellow-orange. Antennae and palpi brown, 3'^ellowish at the base. 

 Head with a large black spot on the vertex, bifurcating to meet the eyes. 

 Prothorax a little longer than broad; its sides straight, lightly rounded 

 before, with a broad longitudinal black band in the middle. Wing- 

 covers elongated, narrow, yellow, margined with a paler line and bear- 

 ing near to its extremity a black spot more or less elongated. Beneath 

 yellow; prosternum, with the extremities of the femora, tibise, and tarsi 

 more or less darker. Length 0.40 inch. 



Var. Wing-covers entirely brown with the exception of their pale 

 yellow margin. (Provancher, loc. cit.) 



It will be seen that the black coloring on the wing-covers varies 

 greatly in this species, as it does also in G. Pennsylvamcus, in which it 

 sometimes covers nearly the entire surface. 



