REPORT OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST 



415 



Habits, Etc., of the Insect. 

 Prof. P. H. Rolfs has given the following account in Entomological 

 News, ii, 1891, p. 13, of the habits and pupation of this insect: 



The habits of this little beetle appear to be familiar, but the follow- 

 ing notes on its period of development may be of interest: The larvfe 

 were found abundantly on plantain (JPlantago major) at La Claire, 

 Iowa, about August 1, 1890. They make an opening in the epidermis of 

 the leaf which they enter, gradually eating their way. Sometimes a larva 

 makes a tunnel, then goes back and starts a branch to it. If the leaf 

 becomes too dry some will leave and enter a fresh one, but in ordinary 

 cases they remain in their leaf until they are ready to pupate. When 

 full-grown they are about three-fourths mm. in length. The period of 

 pupation is fourteen days. Up to the twelfth day the pupa is yellow; 

 on that day a slight coloring of the eyes is noticed, the following day 

 the tarsi become black, and the fourteenth day the beetle appears, 

 becomes entirely black and begins to move about. Eight beetles lived 

 five days without food; after plantaia leaves were introduced they ate 

 freely. 



A Miner in Turnip Leaves. 



Prof. Comstock has noticed this insect in his Report as Entomologist 

 of the U. S. Department of Agriculture for the year 1879. Early in 

 March of that year, turnip leaves being mined by a larva were 

 received from Atlanta, Ga. a The larvae were found burrowing into 

 the leaf-stems as well as into the turnip itself, the eggs having evi- 

 dently been deposited near the base of the leaves. It was at first 

 thought that these might be the larvae of the turnip-flea beetle, as they 

 bore a resemblance to them, but rearing to the perfect state showed 

 t'lem to belong to a clo3ely allied species, Dibolia cerea." The larva 

 not having been previously described, Prof. Comstock accompanies the 

 above notice of its feeding habits with its description (page 248 of the 

 Report of the Department of Agriculture for 1879). 



The Beetle Abroad. 



Prof. Herbert Osborn has taken the beetle, in several examples, 

 in sweeping the grass of a lawn in Washington, D. C. (Insect Life, 

 vi, 1891, p. 198.) 



Of the life-history of this insect little has been recorded. Mr. E. A. 

 Schwarz, of the Entomological Division at Washington, in writing 

 from Yicksburg, Miss., on January 28th, incidentally mentions his 

 having seen during the few preceding warm days Diabolia airea com- 

 monly flying about or sitting on fence posts, etc., but had not found it 

 in its winter quarters. 



