i6o 



Cincinnati Society of Natural History. 



the perfect insect, and as soon as they first appear in the 

 Spring yon should use every exertion to destroy them. A 

 single female larva destroyed at that time may prevent the 

 generation of a hundred thousand in the course of the Sum- 

 mer ; for I have little doubt this species is many-brooded, 

 i. e., that there are several generations of them in one year."* 



Later, in the same publication, f Mr. Walsh describes and 

 figures the insect, giving it the name it now bears, and indi- 

 cated the points of difference between it and F. longipes 

 Melsh. He adds that the beetle had long been well-known 

 to himself and other entomologists, but, except to note the 

 occurrence of a single specimen on a Catawba vine in his 

 garden, and suggest that it might, in future, swarm in other 

 localities besides Kentucky, gave nothing additional. A few 

 months later, in August or September, 1867, the same gentle- 

 man acknowledged receipt of the same insect from the 

 vicinity of St. Louis and BlufTton, Missouri, where they were 

 eating both leaves and fruit of the grape. Among the mate- 

 rial sent was a single specimen of F. longipes Melsh. + 



In his first Report on Insects of Missouri, Professor Riley 

 makes the following statements : 



" One of the worst foes to the grape-vine that we have in 

 Missouri is the Grape Vine Fidia, which is represented in 

 the annexed figure. It is of a chestnut-brown color, and is 

 densely covered with short and dense whitish hairs, which 

 give it a hoary appearance. I have found it very thick in 

 most of the vineyards which I visited, and it is almost uni- 

 versally miscalled the " Rose-bug," which is, however, a very 

 different insect. It is found in the woods on the wild grape- 

 vine, and also on the leaves of the Cercis cayiadensis; but of 

 the tame vines, it seems to prefer the Norton's Virginia and 

 Concord. It makes its appearance during the month of June, 

 and by the end of July has generally disappeared, from which 

 fact we may infer that there is but one brood each year. 

 The manner in which it injures the vine is by cutting straight 

 elongated holes of about one-eighth inch in diameter in the 

 leaves, and, when numerous, it so riddles the leaves as to 



* Pract. Ent., Vol. I, pp. 99, 100, 1866. 

 tLoc. cit., Vol, II, pp. 87, 88. 

 1 IvOC. cit., p. 118. 



