4 BULLETIN 067, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



vulgaris), alfalfa (Medicago sativa), the garden bean (Phaseolus 

 spp.), the peanut (Arachi» hypogaea) , and sweet clover (Melilotus 

 alba). The vrriter has not noticed them feeding much on other 

 plants, but references to literature show that they attack a great 

 variety of vegetation. 



As the beetles emerge they begin feeding on such plants as they 

 find near by. Later they are driven to cultivated plants, because 

 drought has killed the weeds or because they need a more abundant 

 and continuous food supply to support them in their gregarious 

 habits. 



CLASSIFICATION OF SPECIES STUDIED. 



The blister beetles belong to the coleopterous family Meloidae, the 

 members of which contain in their bodies a substance that blisters 

 when extracted and applied to the skin. Both subfamilies, Meloinae 



and Cantharinae, are represented in these 

 studies, though only one genus of Meloinae 

 was identified. This was Meloe, about 30 

 specimens of an undetermined species of 

 which were collected (Chttn. No. 250T). 

 All of these were found along a short piece 

 of roadway which was flanked on one side 

 by a field of wheat and on the other by a 

 weedy prairie pasture. The species may 

 have been only recently introduced in this 

 locality, as it was but a few rods from the 

 bank of a main irrigation ditch which 

 comes directly from the Arkansas River. 

 It was not to be found elsewhere at Garden 

 FlG ' 1_ Eniarged er; MlUlt ' Cit ^ Specimens were secured April 24, 



May 7, and May 19, 1914. On May 7 one 

 pair was taken in copula, but no eggs were secured. The immature 

 stages were not observed, nor were the beetles seen feeding except on 

 the young Eussian thistle. 



Description or Meloe sp. 



Adult. 



Xear afer Bland, or barbaras Lee. (Chttn. No. 2507) : Length, 8 to 12.5 mm. ; 

 width. 3 to 4 mm. ; elytra diverging, truncated, the body being widest across the 

 abdomen near their tips; color black; rough and feebly shining. (Fig. 1.) 



Of the subfamily Cantharinae, two tribes, Nemognathini and 

 Cantharini, were represented. 



The specimens of Nemognathini were identified as belonging to 

 one genus and three species, Xemognatha lurida Lee, N. bicolor Lee. 

 and A. piezata Fab. They were intermingling freely on blossoms of 



