244 



INJQEIOUS INSECTS 



THE SPOTTED PELIDNOTA. 



{Pelidnota punctata, Linnaeus.) 



This is the largest and most conspicuous beetle that 

 attacks the foliage of the Grape-vine, and in the beetle 

 state it seems to subsist entirely on the leaves of this 

 plant, and of the closely allied Virginia Creeper. Though 

 some years it becomes so abundant as to badly riddle the 

 foliage of our vineyards, yet such instances are excep- 

 tional; and it usually occurs in such small numbers, and 



Fig. 149.— THE SPOTTET) PELIDNOTA (Pelidnota punctata, Linn.) 

 a, Grub ; 6, Pupa ; c, Beetle ; d, Markings. 



is SO large and clumsy, that it can not be considered a 

 very redoubtable euemy. 



Its larva has, for a number of years, been known to 

 feed on the decaying roofs of different trees. It is a 

 large clumsy gi-ub (fig. 149, a), beiiring a close resemblance 

 to the comman White Grub of our meadows, and differs 

 from that species priucipallv in being less wrinkled, and 

 in having the chitiuous covering (or skin, so-called) more 



