Fig. 47. 



A 



a tumbler containing some moist earth, until they were fally grown, then they buried 

 themselves in the earth. After a fortnight or so some of the beetles were found in the 

 tumbler. Hence there is no doubt that the former were the larvae of the beetles, and that 

 they undergo their transformations in the ground. 



Previous to the time when this communication was made, they were confined chiefly 

 to the wild vine and the Virginia creeper, both of which they fed on, but since, they have 

 spread nearly all over the United States and Canada, and in many places have proved 

 very destructive. Mr. J. Kirkpatrick, in " Field Notes," says that, in 1865, the crops of 

 several vineyards in the northern part of Ohio were entirely destroyed by it, and that the 

 same painful experience fell to the lot of some of the vine-growers on the shore of Lake 

 Erie. 



The beetles appear on the vines in the latter part of April, and continue to be destruc- 

 tive till late in May, after which they gradually disappear. Before leaving, however, they 

 deposit orange colored eggs in clusters on the under side of the young vine leaves, which 

 hatch in a few days into small, dark brown worms, which feed on the upper side of the 



leaves, eating numberless holes in the softer 

 parts, Fig. 47 (a). 



It is stated by Mr. Riley, that " when 

 " numerous, they devour all but the very 

 " largest leaf ribs, and we have seen the wild 

 " vines, throughout whole strips of country, 

 " rendered most unsightly by the utter de- 

 nudation which these insects had wrought." 

 In three or four weeks the larva is full grown, 

 when it presents the appearance of Fig. 47 

 (&), which is a magnified view, the hair line 

 at the side showing the correct size. It is 

 then about three-tenths of an inch long. It 

 is usually light brown above, sometimes yel- 

 lowish, at other times of a darker shade ; 

 paler on the under surface. The head is 

 black, and there are six or eight shining 

 black dots on each of the other segments of 

 the body, each dot emitting a single brown- 

 ish hair. Its feet, six in number, are black, 

 and there is a fleshy, orange colored proleg 

 on the terminal segment. When progres- 

 sing, it does not move its body regularly, but 

 raises it suddenly behind, as do some if the geometers or loopers. 



In the early part of June, the larvae leave the vines, and descend to the ground, 

 where they burrow under the earth, and forming a little smooth, oval cell, change to a 

 dark yellowish chrysalis, Fig. 47 (c). After remaining about two or three weeks in this 

 state, the perfect beetles issue from them and the work of destruction goes on again ; but 

 as they live altogether on leaves during the fall, of which there is usually an abundance, 

 the amount of injury done is much less than in spring. Mr. Kirkpatrick states that there 

 are several broods during the season, but Mr. Riley thinks there is only one, and that the 

 beetles which appear early in June remain over to the next spring. Some further inves- 

 tigations are needed to clear this matter up. 



To destroy the beetles, it is recommended to strew, in the fall, air slacked lime, or a 

 good quantity of unleached ashes, around the vines infested. Mr. Riley says the larvae 

 may be destroyed by blowing on them, from a bellows, fresh air-slacked lime ; they are 

 very tenacious of life, and would no doubt require a thorough application to ensure their 

 destruction. We should also advise the use of powdered hellebore and water, mixed in 

 the proportion of an ounce to the gallon, and applied to the foliage by means of a syringe. 

 -Strong soap suds have also been recommended, and are perhaps worthy of trial, although 

 mot likely to be so effective as the other measures referred to. During the early spring, 



Colors— (6) Shining brown and black ; (d) steel blue, 

 or metallic green and purple. 



