24 



Tucson, and Yuma, Ariz.; Salt Lake City, Utah; La Veta, Colo., and 

 California. 1 



Although the above localities show a wide distribution east and west 

 and southward from Pennsylvania and New Jersey, the species is, on 

 the whole, somewhat peculiarly Carolinian, at least as regards reported 

 injuries. It has never been found, at least to the writer's knowledge, 

 near New York City, and its' occurrence in the Austral portion of New 

 York State is doubtless rare. The exact locality in New England does 

 not appear to be known, but it is not improbable that it is Connecticut, 

 which includes a considerable strip of Carolinian territory. The spe- 

 cies is evidently rare in the upper portion of the Carolinian region, and 

 not common in the Austroriparian, if indeed it occurs there at all. 



DESCRIPTIONS OF THE EARLIER STAGES. 



The egg. — The egg is elliptical but somewhat inconstant in outline, 

 about two and a half times as long as wide, and opaque, light buff 

 yellow in color. The sculpture of the surface, as observed under a 

 moderately high power of microscope, appears to be granulated, but 

 under a higher lens it is seen to be divided into very minute and rather 

 ilJ -denned shallow concave hexagonal areas arranged in sevens inclosed 

 in hexagons. Length, 0.60 to 0.68 mm.; width, 0.25 to 0.27mm. 



The eggs are shown enlarged at c, fig. 5 and the sculpture at d. 



Eggs were laid from June 10 to July 8, and all that were observed 

 were deposited singly and in small masses of three or four, flat upon 

 the leaves or attached to the sides of the tubes in which the beetles 

 were confined. 



The larva. — The larva is white and slender, resembling superficially 

 Diabrotica and Epitrix, whose larvae have been figured in previous 

 bulletins of this series. The head is light brownish yellow and the 

 legs are pale yellowish and faintly lined with dark brown at the articu- 

 lations of the joints. The legs resemble those of Epitrix, ending in 

 blunt padlike processes. The dorsal surface of the body is somewhat 

 peculiar as regards the tubercles. These are so nearly obsolete as 

 to render it difficult to locate them with certainty. Their arrange- 

 ment is only approximately indicated in the illustration (fig. 5, a). 



1 A very considerable proportion of these last-mentioned specimens have the sutu- 

 ral and lateral stripes black. Most of the individuals thus marked fall into varie- 

 ties mitis and ligata, and may be considered tseniata. In other words, I have reserved 

 the term blanda to apply more particularly to such forms of tseniata Say (Horn) as 

 occur in the eastern portion of the United States (mostly in the Carolinian life area, 

 although blanda appears to extend somewhat into the Upper Sonoran) , while tseni- 

 ata is reserved for those other very variable forms, such as mitis and ligata. 



There is every probability that the form found in Colorado, Arizona, and New 

 Mexico extends into Central America, as a species of Systena has been described by 

 Clark under the name of pectoralis, which is, according to Jacoby, ' ' perhaps iden- 

 tical with blanda Melsh." This latter form is generally distributed in Mexico and 

 other States of Central America. 



