502 
ANNUAL REPORT OF NEW YORK 
STRIPED PLEA-BEETLE. EGOS. LARVA. 
beetles, arul now enlarged in size by the subsequent growth of the 
leaf. 
It is but recently that the larva state and transformations of this 
srerms of insects has been discovered. We owe it to the careful 
investigations of Mr. H. Lo Keux that we are now made acquainted 
with the complete history and economy of these little beetles. 
From his valuable paper on this subject, published in the Transac¬ 
tions of the Entomological Society of London, vol. ii, p. 24, the 
following statement is derived. It refers to the common European 
species, Haltica ( Phyllotreta) nemorum, which, both in its appear¬ 
ance and habits, is almost identical with our American Striped flea- 
beetle. This account will consequently apply to our insect in 
every respect, it is probable, as exactly as though it was the insect 
upon which the observations were made. 
Mr. Le Keux states that if the spring be early and warm the 
sexes begin to pair in April, and continue doing so till September. 
The female deposits her eggs upon the under sido of the leaves of 
the turnip, and probably, also, we suppose, of the cabbage, radish 
and other plants upon which she dwells. She lays apparently 
about one egg per day. Ten pairs laid only forty-three eggs in a 
week. Although this was in a state of confinement, the correct¬ 
ness of the estimate is supported by the fact that in leaves taken 
from the field and having as many as six larvae in them, these 
larvae were of such different sizes as to indicate that their ages 
varied from each other. 
The eggs are very minute, oval, smooth, and partaking of the 
color of the leaf on which they are deposited. They are hatched 
in ten days, and the little maggots immediately upon coming from 
the shell begin to eat through the skin of the leaf, and to form 
wiuding burrows by feeding on the pulp. These burrows become 
plainly visible to the eye after the larvae have left them, and the 
skin of the leaf along their track is withered and discolored; but 
in the early stage of their formation they arc difficult to discover, 
and it is only by holding the leaf up between the eye and the 
light that they can be readily detected. 
The larvae are pale, or of a golden yellow color, fleshy and 
cylindrical, with six feet placed upon the breast, and a prolcg at 
the end of the body. The head is furnished with jaws and large 
dark eyes, and the first and last rings bear dark patches. They 
become full fed in about six days, when they leave their burrows 
