No. 115.] 107 



States. I have heard no complaint of its injuries in the State of 

 New York, nor is it mentioned in the Fitch New York Reports, 

 but it has proved quite destructive in Pennsylvania and in some of 

 the Western States. It appears to be more abundant and injurious 

 in the south-western portion of the United States. 



The injuries inflicted by the beetle are correctly stated in the 

 accompanying communication, while the attack seems to be more 

 formidable than hitherto reported. Prof. Riley, in his notice of the 

 insect {First Report on the Insects of Missouri, 1859, pp. 93, 95, 

 where description and illustration are given), states that the female 

 deposits a single egg in an oblong slit about one-eighth of an inch 

 long, which she had made with her beak'; but in this attack, from 

 six to eight eggs are said to be placed in each vine. 



Fortunately, the remedy for this destructon of the vines in suc- 

 cessive seasons, is found in the habit of the insect changing to its 

 pupal and perfect stages within the vines. As soon as the plants 

 begin to wilt, pull them up and burn them, with the insects con- 

 tained in the stalks or roots. If this be done by all potato growers, 

 as the insect, so far as known, confines itself to the potato, the con. 

 tinuance of the species in the infested locality will be arrested. 



"An Uglt Bee-Slayer." 



Phymata erosa Her.-Sch. 



Mr. G. W. Duvall, of Annapolis, Md., to whom we are indebted 

 for many valuable observations on insects, has contributed to the 

 Country Gentleman the following account of the habits of the 

 carnivorous insect above-named — a member of the order of Hemip- 

 tera, comprising bugs proper, and a common species of general 

 distribution in the United States : 



I send by this post a bottle containing an ugly bee-slayer, on a 

 twig of golden-rod, their favorite bloom, in which they conceal 

 themselves, so as to spring upon the unwary honey-gatherer ; also 

 two of its victims — a small butterflv and a bee. Thev secrete 

 themselves in the yellow bloom (which is nearly their own color) 

 of the golden-rods, false sunflower (H. autumnale), and others of 

 the Compositor which yield honey and have a white or j^ellow 

 bloom, and are so tucked away among the thick efflorescence, that 

 they are not perceived by the busy and unsuspecting honey-seeker, 

 until he actually crawls into their deadly embrace. They suck the 



