138 COLEOPTEEA. 



chusetts is of a more slender foiiii tlian the proccJing, and 

 measures only from five and a half to six tenths of an inch 

 in length. Its antennas and feet are hlack, aiad all the rest 

 of its body is ashen gray, being thickly covered Avith a very- 

 short down of that color. Hence it is called Cantharis cine- 

 jj jg rea,*^^ or the ash-colored Cantharis (Fig. 63). 



When the insect is rubbed, the ash-colored 

 substance comes ofi^, leaving the surface 

 black. It begins to appear in gardens about 

 the 20th of June, and is very fond of the 

 leaves of the English bean, which it sometimes 

 entirely destroys. It is also occasionally fomid 

 in considerable niunbers on potato-vines ; and in Cambridge, 

 Massachusetts, it has repeatedly appeared in great profusion 

 upon hedges of the honey-locust, which have been entirely 

 stripped of foliage by these voracious insects. They are also 

 found on the wild indigo-weed. In the night, and in rainy 

 weather, they descend from the plants, and burrow in the 

 ground, or under leaves and tufts of grass. Thither also 

 they retire for shelter during the heat of the day, being most 

 actively engaged in eating in the morning and evening. 

 About the 1st of August they go into the ground and lay 

 their eggs, and these are hatched in the course of one month. 

 The lai'VEe are slender, somewhat flattened grubs, of a yel- 

 lowish color, banded with black, with a small reddish head, 

 and six legs. These grubs are very active in their motions, 

 and appear to live upon fine roots in the ground ; but I have 

 not been able to keep them till they arrived at maturity, and 

 therefore know nothing further of their history. 



About the middle of August, and during the rest of this 

 and the following month, a jet-black Cantharis may be seen 

 on potato-vines, and also on the blossoms and leaves of vari- 



* Lytia cinerea, Fabricius. 



[ 17 As this speciflo name was previously applied by Forster to the species men- 

 tioned on the previous page as Canlliaris or Lytta marginata, and has priority over 

 that name, I have changed the name of the present species to Lyttoi Fabncii. — 

 Lec] 



