336 



be found on the buds of the various trees and low plants. Along the edge, of the 

 forest, however, a few beetles could be seen on the buds of a dogwood (probably 

 Coniusfloiida), and the buds themselves showed evidence of injury. On the older 

 portions of the second orchard some beetles were found eating the young leaves of 

 a blackberry (Rubas), and a solitary young shoot of a locust tree harbored.mauy 

 specimens. The leaves of a few wild cherry trees showed signs of injury, but the 

 originator proved to be Aj)ion nigrum. In the valleys where the vegetation was 

 more advanced than on the ridges no beetles could be found except on the young 

 shoots of black locust. 



From analogy with the habits of other species of Crepidodera, " as well as from the 

 ravenous appetite of the beetles, their sudden appearance in great numbers, and from 

 their dark color, t it is safe to assert that they had hibernated in the imago state, and 

 efforts were made accordingly to ascertain the place of hibernation. The insect 

 sieve was brought into requisition, and after some failures I succeeded in finding a 

 few specimens under a heap of old leaves and rubbish at the edge of the forest and 

 close to the newly-plowed orchard. No specimens were found in the depths of 

 the woods, although I chose for investigation places which from experience I knew 

 to be favorable as hibernating quarters of insects, and where, indeed, many other 

 Coleoptera (notably Typopliorus caneUus) and Hemiptera were found by me. How- 

 ever, on the surface of the ground of the newly-planted orchard many beetles were 

 seen crawling about, and many others were found under the clods of earth or within 

 the loose soil, so that I was forced to the conclusion that the place of hibernation 

 and the starting point of the invasion was the newly-made orchard itself, which, as 

 stated above, had been covered with a growth of locust bushes up to March of the 

 present year. It is to be regretted that no absolute certainty could be obtained 

 regarding this point, for it has evidently an important bearing upon the means of 

 avoiding future injury, as will presently be explained. 



It may safely be asserted that the peach and other orchard trees are not the origi- 

 nal food plants of the imago or larva of this Crepidodera. The consensus of all 

 field Coleoi)terists in America is that the black locust (Bohinia pseitdacacia) is the 

 favorite food-plant of the imago, tt But the beetles are also found on various other 

 plants, and in my experience it is near Washington not rare on beech, the leaves of 

 which it riddles with holes. I have never seen it feeding on any herbaceous plants. 

 The true food-plant of the species i. e., the food-plant of the larva, still remains 

 unknown, but it is safe to say that if the larva were feeding openly on the leaves of 

 some plant, or if it were a leaf-miner, it would have been discovered long ago, either 

 in Europe or here. It appears to be almost certain that the larva of this as well as 

 other species of Crepidodera and of the closely-allied genus Epitrix are root-feeders, 

 and it is but natural to assume that the larva of C. rufipes is to be found within or 

 at the roots of that plant, which is the favorite food-plant of the imago. Although 

 I did not expect to find the larva of the Crepidodera at this season when the insect 

 was in the imago state, I carefully exhumed and examined a clump of young locust 

 shoots which grew between the three-year old peach trees of the second orchard, 

 but neither the roots nor the rootlets showed the slightest sign of having been 

 attacked by any insect larva. This is of course no convincing proof th '.t the larva 

 does not live on locust roots. Since no other wild leguminous plants were seen 

 thus early in the season in the orchards or within the woods any further attempts 

 to find evidence of the larva had to be abandoned. 



Mr. Murrell first noticed the beetles on the orchard trees on April 7, and at once 

 set to work to kill the invaders. Pure pyrethrum powder was first dusted over all 



* Our common species of this genus, viz, C. helxines, C. modeeri, and C. atriventris, 

 are well known to hibernate in the imago state. 



t Of the many thousands of specimens seen by me, none had that bright-red color 

 on head and thorax as seen in specimens found in summer time. 



+t There are only two published records of this fact, viz, by Mr. Wm. Beutenmiiller 

 (Ent. Amer. vi, p. 177) and by Mr. F. H. Chittenden (Proc. Ent. Soc. Wash., ii, p. 206). 



