﻿FIELD AND FOREST. 97 



much of it was skeletonized, brown and crisp; and the cause became 

 manifest by the descent of hundreds of thousands of coleopterous lar- 

 vae, down their trunks to the pavements or the ground beneath them. 

 Owing to the hard pavements in the city intercepting their downward 

 progress, these larvae pupated in masses around the bases of the trees, 

 or in moist and shaded corners about the door steps. Many hundreds, 

 however, effected their pupal transformation in the crevices, or under 

 the rough bark on the trunks, from the base to as far up as the vision 

 could detect them ; but the large number reached the ground or pave- 

 ments, and could have been gathered up by pints and quarts. 



The pupal period averaged about six days, but the imago continued 

 to evolve from the first to the twentieth of August. Many of those 

 that reached the pavements were swept up and destroyed, or were ap- 

 propriated by the English sparrows, of which we have a goodly number 

 in this city. 



Reference has been made to this Elm-leaf beetle by Harris, Fitch, 

 and others, as the Galeruca calmariensis ; but that must surely be er- 

 roneus ; for, according to Stephens and others, that species feeds, and 

 is only found upon aquatic plants, and is not in accord with the Elm- 

 leaf beetle as described in the manual of Stephens. This error, accor- 

 cording to competent authority, is attributable to a misconception of 

 Gyllenhall. 



" G. xanthomelczna Schon, S. 78. — Ste. M. IV, 291. Oblong-ovate; 

 above griseous-yellow, thickly punctured, crown with a 3-angular 

 black spot and another germinated one at the base of the antenna; 

 thorax with 3 black spots ; elytra with a long black dash within the 

 margin, and a short streak near the middle ; legs dull yellow, thighs 

 with a dusky spot within, tibia with a black streak, hinder pair bent. 

 (L. 3 1.) Elms: London district, 6." 



If it were necessary to add anything more than the above descrip- 

 tion from Stephens' Manual British Coleoptera, it would be that the 

 central thoracic spot is 3-angular, similar in form and size to the 

 crown spot, in nearly all of the specimens which came under my obser- 

 vation. Their uniformity, therefore, seems to be exceptional. 



The larva, when mature, is three-eighth of an inch in length ; the 

 head and feet black, color lemon-yellow, two dark lateral stripes, and 

 a dorsal yellow stripe, the segments are divided transversely, above, by 

 a distinct indented line ; exhibiting twice as many segmental divisions 



