b 



312 NATURAL HISTORY OF ARTHROPODS. 



them, insuring their destruction as soon as the eggs hatch. The full-grown larvae 

 have a similar form to that of Hippodamia convergens, are black, with a yellowish 

 spot on each side of the first, and another on the dorsum of the fourth abdominal 

 segment. When ready for pupation the larva attaches its abdomen to some ob- 

 ject, shortens and swells itself up so as to split its larval skin, and, thus freed from 

 it, appears as a pupa in new colors and form. The spotted pupa, for the most 

 part black and pink, is likewise similar to that of Hippodamia convergens. The 

 imago, after it emerges from the pupa is, for the most part, very soft, and pale 

 yellow, but it becomes quickly harder and darker-colored. A. bipunctata is espe- 

 cially abundant during the latter part of summer and in autumn on birch trees, 

 probably attracted to these trees by the plant-lice which during that part of the 

 year abound on birches. 



Another genus, Hippodamia, contains species that are more elongated than those 



of Coccinella, and a number of them are common in the United 



States. H. convergeiis and H. tredecimpunctata are known to 



devour the eggs of the Colorado potato-beetle, while on the 



Pacific coast H. ambigua is also of economic value. Megilla 



maculata, which has a similar form and is often mentioned as 



Fig 349 — Hippodamia ^ Hippodamia, besides eating plant-lice, preys extensively on the 



cmvergens; a, larva; chinch-bug, and also eats the eggs of the Colorado potato-beetle. 



Its eggs are similar to, but smaller than those of the potato-beetle 



and might be mistaken for them. 



Epilachna borealis, the northern lady-bird, which is honey yellow with black spots, 

 was supposed for a long time to be the sole North American species of this family 

 which was a vegetable-feeder. The larva) of this species feeds upon gourd, squash, 

 and pumpkin vines, and the imago eats the same food. The larva is yellow and is 

 clothed with black-tipped spines. The corresponding European species, E. glohosa 

 and E. undecimmaculata are phytophagous, the former often doing considerable 

 damage to lucern, and now and then eating other plants, while the latter attacks 

 bryony. 



To the family Endomtchidje belong nearly four hundred described species which 

 live, both as larva and imago, upon fungi. The species are distinguished from the 

 lady-birds by their cylindrical palpi and long antennae, and often by their prothorax 

 having grooves at its base, and by then- elongated head, the lady-birds having groove- 

 less prothorax and short head. The tarsi are manifestly four-jointed in some genera 

 of Endomychidae. The species are numerous in the tropics, many species being found 

 in Brazil, where, according to H. W. Bates, they hold a sort of complementary rela- 

 tionship to the Erotylidse, — another fungivorous family, the species of which closely 

 resemble Endomychidae, although the species of the former family mostly have 

 cryptopentamerous tarsi, — in that the Endomychidae devour small fungi while the 

 Erotylidae live upon large ones. The species of both families are slow in 

 their motions and some of them are gregarious. 



Mycetina vittata, one of our most common species of Endomychidae, 

 is flattened, reddish-brown in ground coloration, with the sutural or 

 median portion of the elytra black, and with a black stripe along the fig.sso.— ji/j/m- 

 middle of the outer portion of each elytron. This species is often found, **"'' vittata. 

 in groups of a few to a hundred semi-torpid specimens, under half-decayed stumps, 

 or more rarely under boards, about mid-winter in New England. 



