THE ROSY HISPA. 
121 
small ; tlie antennae are short, thickened towards the end, 
and of a black color; the thorax is narrow 
before and wide behind, rough above, striped 
with deep red on each side; the wing-covers 
taken together form an oblong square ; there 
are three smooth longitudinal lines or ribs on 
each of them, spotted with blood-red, and the 
spaces between these lines are deeply punc¬ 
tured in double rows ; the under side of the body is black, 
and the legs are short and reddish. They measure about 
one fifth of an mch in length. These beetles may be found 
on the leaves of the apple-tree, and very abundantly on 
those of the shad-bush QAmelanchier ovalis)^ and choke-berry 
(^Pyrus arbutifolid)^ during the latter part of IMay and the 
beginning of June. 
In the middle of June, another kind of Hispa may be 
found pairing and laying eggs on the leaves of the locust- 
tree. The grubs appear during the month of July, and are 
transformed to beetles in August. They measure nearly 
one quarter of an inch in length, are of a tawny yellow 
color, with a black longitudinal line on the middle of the 
back, partly on one and partly on the other wing-cover, the 
inner edges of which meet together and form what is called 
the suture; whence this species was named Hispa suturalis 
by Fabricius ; the head, antennae, body beneath, and legs are 
black ; and the wing-covers are not so square behind as in 
the rosy Hispa. 
The tortoise-beetles, as they are familiarly called from 
their shape, are leaf-eating insects, belonging to the family 
Cassidad^. This name, derived from a word signifying a 
helmet, is applied to them because the fore part of the 
semicircular thorax generally projects over the head like the 
front of a helmet. In these beetles the body is broad oval 
or rounded, flat beneath, and slightly convex above. The 
antennae are short, slightly thickened at the end, and inserted 
close together on the crown of the head. The latter is small, 
16 
