24 
THE ALDER FLEA-BEETLE. 
(Haltica alni Harris.) 
In the correspondence of the late Dr. Harris the following mention is 
made of this beetle : u In traveling from Centre Harbor, N. H., to Con- 
way, on the 2d of August, 1854, and from Conway to Upper Bartlett, 
and subsequently to Jackson, we saw the Alders ( Alnus serrulata) every- 
where ravaged by insects which had destroyed their leaves in the man- 
ner of canker worms. Upon examination the spoilers were found not 
to be all dispersed and several were seen upon the leaves still continu- 
ing their work ; at the same time were found in Conway numerous 
beetles, which proved to be a species of Haltica, eating the leaves off 
the same Alders. The larvrn which had ravaged the shrubs were doubt- 
less those of the Haltica before named.” 
We have reared the beetles from the grubs during the past season. 
At Merepoint, near Brunswick, Me., during the middle of August, 
1886, we noticed clumps of Alders standing in dry soil partly defoliated 
or with skeletonized, brown or blackish leaves, on which, as well as 
the still remaining green leaves, were black grubs, sometimes seven or 
eight on a leaf. All the alders in the region were not molested, the 
grubs occurring locally. August 15 we found a single beetle, on 
placing a number of leaves with the grubs in a tin box. We found a 
white pupa lying loosely on the bottom of the box August 20 ; soon 
more pupse appeared, and the beetles began to appear in considerable 
numbers the last week of August. It is evident that in nature the 
larva falls to the ground to transform, the pupse entering the earth. 
Afterwards, September 10, we found whole clumps of Alders at the 
base of Iron Mountain, Jackson, N". H., stripped by the grubs, neariy all 
the riddled, brown, dead leaves having fallen off and thickly covering 
the ground under the bushes. Such a wholesale devastation of Alders 
we never witnessed. By this time the beetles had become very abun- 
dant, and were apparently feeding on the few leaves still attached to 
the tree. The Alder is the source of some of our destructive forest and 
fruit insects, and should this grub ever spread to other food trees it 
will be very annoying, though it can be subdued by proper spraying. 
There seems to be a periodicity in the appearance of this beetle in 
unusual numbers, Harris having seen the same grubs in great abun- 
dance in 1854 in the same region. We have never observed it so com- 
mon and destructive before in Maine. It is most probable that the 
beetles hibernate under the leaves and, soon after the leaves expand 
in May, lay their eggs in masses on them, the grubs scarcely stirring 
from the leaf on which they are born, until ready to pupate^ The 
grubs are probably distasteful to birds, otherwise they would fall an 
easy prey to them and be kept within due limits. 
Descriptive. — Larva . — Body somewhat flattened ; head scarcely two-thirds as 
wide as the body in the middle ; black, becoming brown in front near the jaws. 
Body livid brown above ; the tubercles black ; paler beneath ; with three pairs of 
