98 The American Naturalist. [January, 



Natural Science Association of Staten Island.— October 10th, 

 1891. — Informal meeting. 



The following paper, by Mr. Chas. W. Leng, was read : 



Notes of the tribe Hispini. The habits of certain species of Chry- 

 somelidse, members of the tribe Hispini, were first made known by Dr. 

 Harris in the year 1835, in the Boston Journal of Natural History 

 (vol. i. pp. 141-147) and were restated in his " Insects Injurious to 

 Vegetation" (p. 120). These species are : 



Microrhopala vittata Fab., living on Golden Rod. Odontota rubra 

 Web., living on Apple, etc. Odontota dorsalis Thunb. living on 

 Locust. They all occur in this neighborhood as do several other 

 species belonging to the tribe, but according to Mr. Wm. Beuteu- 

 muller's "Catalogue of Transformations" (Journ. N. Y. Micros. Soc. 

 VII. pp. 1-52) no further record has been made of their habits. 



I am now able to add some notes on our Staten Island species and 

 especially on the larva? of Odontota scapularis Oliv. 



Frequently in the woods, there grows freely a trailing vine of the 

 Pulse family, identified for me by Mr. W. T. Davis as Phaseolus hel- 

 volus (or in the last edition of Gray's Manual Strophostylus peduncu- 

 laris Ell.) Its leaves are often marred by white blotches, the parts 

 affected consisting only of the colorless epidermis of the leaf, its sub- 

 stance having heen devoured by the larva of the Odontota. In early 

 June the beetles are found upon these plants in copulation or perhaps 

 the female in the act of ovipositing. The eggs are irregular, rough, 

 black masses, about one millimeter in diameter and are attached to 

 the under side of the leaf, usually singlyr The larvae are oblong, flat- 

 tened, somewhat cuneiform in outline, soft and of a whitish color 

 except the head which is piceous and corneous. They are, of course, 

 minute when first hatched, but continue to grow larger, always living 

 within the leaf and enlarging the white blotch as they eat, until by 

 September they have attained a length of one-fourth inch. The pupal 

 stage is probably of short duration. The beetle is black, roughly 

 sculptured, and has the humeral angles reddish. It is, from an ignor- 

 ance of its habits perhaps, accounted rare by some collectors, but in 

 the woods of Middletown and in Britton's woods, where its food plant 

 grows freely, it is during June one of the abundant insects, and late 



Microrhopala vittata, living on Golden Rod, oviposits and perfects 

 its transformation earlier than the Odontata and frequently three or 

 four larvse inhabit the same leaf. Solidago canadensis is especially 



