306 AMERICAN POMOLOGY. 



however, and when they are abundant they may consume 

 the foliage of our trees. These Blister-flies belong to the 

 genus Lytta, and are used as a substitute for the Spanish- 

 fly of Europe, as they are possessed of blistering qualities 

 in no mean degree. They are wholly difierent from the 

 new potato destroyer of the West, the Doryphora \Q-li- 

 neata, which is hemispherical, and is a leaf-eater, in the 

 larval as well as in the perfect state. 



Remedt. — Catch and kill all that can be found in the 

 garden, or potato field ; scald, dry, and sell to the apoth- 

 ecary. 



Before closing this section, it is but due to our many 

 insect friends in this order, to introduce a few of them to 

 the reader. There are several large families that are reiilly 

 serviceable to man ; some of these are called Scavengers, 

 because they consume large quantities of decaying mat- 

 ter that might prove noxious to us, were it allowed to de- 

 cay upon the surface of the ground. Among these are 

 the Dung-beetles, and the Carrion-beetles : others ^e carni- 

 vorous, and some of these are called Oicindelidce, or Tige?- 

 beetles, from their voracious consumption of other in- 

 sects, which they devour in great numbers, both in their 

 larval and in their perfect form. These day beetles are 

 large, brightly colored, and very active in their move- 

 ments, as they run about in the sunny paths and roads, 

 and cannot fail to attract attention. Few persons are 

 aware, however, of the valuable aid they are rendering 

 to man, nor of the credit that is due to them for the pre- 

 seiTation of our crops from the invasion of other insect 

 foes. Too often they are either unobserved and overlook- 

 ed, or even treated with the aversion and cruelty of men 



