THE MARGINED CANTHARIS. 137 



black spots on the head, and two black stripes on the thorax 

 and on each. of the wing-covers. The under side of the body, 

 the legs, and the antennas are black, and covered with a 

 grayish down. Its length is from five to six tenths of an 

 inch. In this and the three following species the thorax is 

 very much narrowed before, and the wing-covers are long 

 and narrow, and cover the whole of the back. The striped 

 Cantharis is comparatively rare in New England ; but in the 

 Middle and Western States it often appears in great numbers, 

 and does much mischief in potato-fields and gardens, eating 

 up, not only the leaves of the potato, but those of many other 

 vegetables. It is one of the insects to which the production 

 of the potato-rot has been ascribed. The habits of this kind 

 of Cantharis are similar to those of the following species. 



There is a large blistering beetle which is very common on 

 the virgin's bower (Clematis Virginiand), a trailing plant, 

 which grows wild in the fields, and is cultivated for covering 

 arbors. I have sometimes seen this plant completely stripped 

 of its leaves by these insects, during the month of August. 

 They are very shy, and when disturbed fall immediately 

 from the leaves, and attempt to conceal themselves among 

 the grass. They most commonly resort to the low branches 

 of the Clematis, or those that trail upon the ground, and 

 more rarely attack the upper parts of the vine. They also 

 eat the leaves of various kinds of Ranunculus or buttercups, 

 and, in the Middle and Southern States, those of Clematis 

 viorna and erispa. This beetle is the Cantharis 

 marginata of Olivier, or margined Cantharis 

 (Fig. 62). It measures six or seven tenths of 

 an inch in length. Its head and thorax are 

 thickly covered with short gray down, and have 

 a black spot on the upper side of each; the 

 wing-covers are black, with a very narrow gray 

 edging ; and the under side of the body and the 

 legs are also gray. 



The most destructive kind of Cantharis found in Massa- 



18 



