REPORT OP THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 209 



eral other plants. The larva of this species (Fig. 19, b) is of a dark 

 brown color with a lighter dorsal area, and has the appearance of the 

 illustration after the excreta has been removed from the anal fork. 

 Riley says : "It carries its fsecifork immediately over the back, and the 

 excrement is arranged in a more or less irregular trilobed pattern. 

 The loaded fork still lies close to the back in the pupa, which is brown, 

 like the larva, and chiefly characterized by three dark shades on the 

 transparent prothorax, one being in the middle and one at each side. 



"The perfect beetle (Fig. 20, d), when seen in all its splendor, is 

 one of the most beautiful objects that can well be imagined. It ex- 

 actly resembles a piece of golden tinsel, and with its legs withdrawn and 

 body lying flat to a leaf, the uninitiated would scarcely suppose it to 

 be an insect, did it not suddenly take wing while being observed. At 

 first these beetles are of a dull, deep orange color, which strongly 

 relieves the transparent edges of the wing-covers and helmet, and 

 gives conspicuousness to six black spots, two above and two on each 

 side. But in about a week after they have left the pupa shell, or as 

 soon as they begin to copulate, they shine in all their splendor, and 

 these black spots are scarcely noticed." 



A third species of these beetles is what is commonly termed 



THE PALE-THIGHED TORTOISE BEETLE. 

 (Coptocycla pallida Herbst.) 



It can hardly be distinguished from the preceding, and is evidently 

 but a form of that species. "It is of a somewhat broader, rounder 

 form, and differs in lacking the black spots on the wing- covers, and in 

 having the thighs entirely pale yellow, while in awichalcea they are 

 black at the base. It likewise feeds upon the sweet potato, and its 

 larva differs only from that of the former in its spines being brighter 

 and lighter colored, and in having a dull orange head, and a halo of 

 the same color on the anterior portion of the body/' 



A fourth tortoise beetle that feeds upon the sweet potato vines in this 



state is 



THE MOTTLED TORTOISE BEETLE. 



(Coptocycla guttata Oliv.) 



This beetle is shown in Fig. 21, a, b, and d, and is characterized 

 briefly as follows by Riley : " It is at once distinguished from all the 

 others here described by being usually black, with the shoulders black 

 14 



