442 
ANNUAL REPORT OF NEW YORK 
POTATO-BEETLE. 1T3 EGGS. ITS LARVA. 
would appear that they resort to the forests for a more secure shelter 
during the winter than they are able to find in the open fields. For a few 
weeks at the commencement of the season they sustain themselves upon 
whatever vegetation they meet with that is most palatable to them. About 
the middle of June, when the potato tops are become considerably ad¬ 
vanced, they begin to gather upon them, and there take up their abode for 
the remainder of the season, feeding upon the leaves and eating large 
irregular holes in them, and ere long commencing to drop their eggs upon 
them. 
The Eggs are of an oval form with the ends bluntly rounded. They are 
four hundredths of an inch long and scarcely half as thick; of a vitelline or 
golden yellow color, their upper end often showing a brown stain. They 
are smooth and glossy, being, for some time after they are deposited, coated 
over with a glutinous fluid, whereby they adhere to any smooth surface and 
leave a yellow stain upon it. They occur in clusters of some six to ten in 
number, placed irregularly, sometimes on the upper but oftener on the under 
side of the leaf, loosely adhering thereto and to each other by the glutinous 
fluid just mentioned, which, becoming dried before they hatch, glues them 
firmly in their several positions. 1 have sometimes met with clusters in 
which several of the eggs were destroyed, only their transparent shells 
remaining, empty and shrunken, their conteuts having been sucked out, no 
doubt, by the larvae of some of the Golden-eyed flics (Ghrysopa genus,) which 
flies are frequently met with in potato fields. 
The eggs have been stated to hatch in about a fortnight, the larvae from 
them taking up their residence on the underside of the leaf where they will 
be hid from view and shaded from the rays of the sun. They here com¬ 
mence feeding, usually at the apex of the leaf, but sometimes on one side. 
When engaged in feeding they stand regularly in a row, side by side, with 
their heads at the edge of the leaf. When their meal is finished they draw 
slightly back and are then huddled irregularly together. When they have 
consumed a fourth part of the leaf or thereabouts, they commonly migrate 
to another part of the stalk, taking up their abode on a leaf there, until 
they have consumed a similar portion of it. As they approach maturity 
they are less inclined to remain together in society, many of the larger 
worms being met with scattered about singly, whilst others are found 
associated, two, three or more together. And they now remain upon a 
particular leaf-stalk, frequently until they have consumed all or nbarly all 
of the foliage growing from it. 
The Larvae are soft slug-like worms rf an oval form, thickest back of the 
middle and very convex on the back. They are transversely wrinkled from 
impressed lines at the sutures and a more shallow impression on the middle 
of each ring; and low down on the sides arc rounded tubercular elevations 
which have a minute beard. When young they are of an obscure olive 
yellow color, becoming brighter yellow as they approach maturity, a faint 
stripe low down on each side and embracing the breathing pores being 
clearer yellow than any other part of the surface. They are glossy and 
shining, more or less, as their bodies are wet or dry. Along the middle of 
the back is a black pulsating line, with a yellow stripe bordering it on 
