REPORT OF THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



301 



pest, and, contrary to our expectations, it seems not to have done much 

 damage since. 



This beetle lias the habit of "playing possum," a habit which is com- 

 mon to many of the snout-beetles. 



The early stages of the species have not yet been observed, but the 

 larva} will, without much doubt, be found feeding upon the roots (ex- 

 ternally) of one or more of the food-plants of the adult beetle, just as 

 do the larva3 of Fuller's Rose-Beetle (Aomopactes fidleri), described in 

 our annual report to this Department for 1878. 



From its habits it will be found difficult to contend with this insect 

 when it occurs unexpectedly and in large numbers. In small gardens 

 the vegetables can be saved by hand-picking the beetles, and in cases 

 where it occurs on large truck farms we should advise the use of the 

 pvrethrum infusion. We know this to be effectual with the rose-beetle 

 above mentioned. 



A beetle, belonging to the same family as the preceding, is reported 

 by Dr. Packard (Second Ann. Rep. as Entomologist of Massachusetts, 

 LS7L , , pp. 14,15; repeated in Hayden's 9th U. S. Geol. Surv., 1875, p. 

 575) as being not uncommon in Essex County, Massachusetts. It is 

 the Otiorhynchus picipes, Fabr., and is believed to be an importation from 

 England, where it does much damage, according to Curtis, to Cabbage 

 and other cruciferae. It is very doubtful, however, whether Packard has 

 correctly determined the species, as coleopterists do not recognize it as 

 occurring in America. It is probable that one of the other two species 

 of the genus that are known to occur in Massachusetts, viz, sulcatus and 

 Hgneus, have been confounded with it. 



THE WAVY-STKIPED FLEA-BEETLE. 

 (Phyllotreta vittata, Fabricius.) 

 Order Coleoptera ; family Ciiryso3ielid^e. 

 [Plate III; Fig. 6.1 



HABITS AND NATURAL HISTORY. 



This littleinsectis one of our most familiar garden pests. It abounds 

 throughout the summer on all our cruciferous vegetables, as cabbage, 

 turnip, radish, mustard; upon charlock (Sinapis), shepherd's purse, 

 (Capsella), stock (Mattkiola) rocket (Hesperis), and many other plants 

 of the same family, occasionally going without its limits and feeding 

 upon other convenient plants, such as the common garden pea. It often 

 occurs in great numbers, and injures the cabbage crop severely. Its 

 general appearance is well known to all gardeners. It is oval in shape, 

 one-tenth of an inch long, shining black in color, except that the wing- 

 covers have each a broad, wavy, longitudinal band of a pale yellow 

 color. Its hind thighs are greatly enlarged, and it is a great jumper, as 

 the popular name would indicate. The work of the beetle itself upon 

 cabbage consists in eating innumerable small pits into the surface of 

 the leaf, never, except upon the tenderest and thinnest extremities, eat- 

 ing through the leaf-substance. With the thin-leaved mustard, how- 

 ever, the case is different, and the foliage becomes riddled with holes. 



The habits of this flea-beetle have been written upon by Harris, Fitch, 

 Shimer, and others. Harris had no knowledge of the immature forms 

 (Ins. Inj. to Yeg., p. 129). Fitch (Eleventh Report, Ins. N. Y., p. 45) 



