42 



wing cases are dark brown. The under surface is of a dark green shade, with a metallic 

 lustre, and somewhat downy about the middle with fine brownish hairs ; its legs are of 

 the same dark shining green. 



It appears in July, August, and sometimes in September, and is active in the day 

 time flying about from vine to vine, with a loud buzzing noise. After the insects have 

 paired, the female deposits her eggs in rotten wood, which, when the young grub is 

 hatched, furnishes it with suitable food for its development. Mr. Riley, who was the first 

 to find the larva and rear it, gives in the American Entomologist, vol. 2, p. 295, the follow- 

 ing description : — " It is a large clumsy grub, bearing a close resemblance to the common 

 'white grub' of our meadows, and differs from that species principally in being less wrin- 

 kled, and in having the skin more polished and of a purer white color, and in the dis- 

 tinct heart shaped swelling above the anus, Fig. 45 (d). Towards the latter part of 

 June, we have found this larva, Fig. 45 («), in company with the pupa, Fig 45 (b), in 

 rotten stumps and roots of the pear. In preparing for the pupa state, the larva forms a 

 rather unsubstantial cocoon of its own excrement, mixed with the surrounding wood. 

 The pupa state lasts but from eight to ten days, and the beetle, Fig. 45 (c), is found on 

 our vines during the months of July, August and September. It is not yet known how 

 long a time is required for the development of the larva,, but from analogy, we may in- 

 fer that the insect lives in that state upwards of three years." 



Fig. 45 (e) shows the antennae of the larva, and (/) one of the legs — both magnified. 



This foe, as far as we can learn, is confined in Canada to the Province of Ontario, 

 and prevails chiefly in its western section. According to Messrs. Provancher and Bowles, 

 it is never found about Quebec. Even in the places in which it most delights to dwell, 

 it is not generally a very troublesome enemy. Should they at any time be present in 

 sufficient number to create alarm, they may be materially lessened by hand picking and 

 crushing under the loot. They are heavy and clumsy in their movements, and not diffi- 

 cult to capture. They feed on both wild and cultivated vines, and also on the allied 

 Virginia creeper (A?npelopsis quinque folia). 



No. 9. — The Grape Vine Flea. Beetle (Haltica chalybea, Illiger). The common 

 name of this insect suggests activity, and it is equally active in mischief as in movement, 

 hopping from leaf to leaf, and from branch to branch, with a celerity scarcely surpassed 

 by its smaller namesake. 



This beetle survives the winter in the perfect state, lying dormant and torpid under 

 leaves, pieces of bark, or other suitable shelter, until called into activity by the reviving 

 warmth of spring. It is a pretty little beetle (Fig. 46), of a polished steel 

 blue or green color, sometimes shading into purplish, with a transverse de- 

 pression across the hinder part of the thorax. The under side is dark green, 

 the antennae and feet brownish black. Its length is about three-twentieths of 

 T an inch, and it has stout, robust thighs, by means of which it is able to jump 

 1 about very briskly ; these are well shown in the figure. It is more destruc- 

 tive in spring than at any other time ; for then, before the buds have burst, 

 Color, steel blue this creature is astir, with appetite the keener for its long winter fast; and 

 while the tender growth is swelling, and displaying its lovely roseate tints, 

 this little mischief-maker pounces on it, and hollows it out to its centre, thus consuming, 

 in a short time, two or three embryo bunches of grapes. 



Its first appearance, as a destructive agent, is noted by Mr. Thomas, of Cayuga Co., 

 N. Y., in 1831, in a communication to Silliman's " American Journal of Science and Art." 

 "These brilliant insects," Harris says, " were observed by him in Cayuga Co., N. Y., 

 " creeping on the vine and destroying the buds, by eating out the central succulent parts. 

 " Some had burrowed even half their length into the buds. When disturbed, they jump, 

 " rather than fly, and remain where they fall for a time without motion. During the 

 "same season, these beetles appeared in unusually great numbers in New Haven, Conn., 

 " and its vicinity, and the injury done by them was wholly unexampled. Some vines 

 " were entirely despoiled of their fruit buds, so as to be rendered, for that season, barren." 

 Mr. Thomas found the vine leaves infested in the year 1830 and 1831, by small chestnut- 

 colored, smooth worms, and suspecting them to be the larva of the beetle, he fed them in 



