126 
COLEOPTERA. 
found in tlie second volume of the “ New England Farmer,”* 
and in Fessenden’s “ New American Gardener, ’ f under the 
article Cucumber. 
The cucumber flea-beetle above mentioned, a little, black, 
jumping insect, well known for the injury done by it, in the 
spring, to young cucumber plants, belongs to another family 
of the Chrysomelian tribe, called Halticadae. The following 
are the chief peculiarities of the beetles of this family. The 
body is oval and very convex above ; the thorax is short, 
nearly or quite as wide as the wing-covers behind, and nar- 
rowed before ; the head is pretty broad ; the antennas are 
slender, about half the length of the body, and are implanted 
nearly on the middle of the forehead ; the hindmost thighs 
are very thick, being formed for leaping ; hence these insects 
have been called flea-beetles, and the scientific name Haltica, 
derived from a word signifying to leap, has been applied to 
them. The surface of the body is smooth, generally polished, 
and often prettily or brilliantly colored. The claws are 
very thick at one end, are deeply notched towards the other, 
and terminate with a long curved and sharp point, which 
enables the insect to lay hold firmly upon the leaves of 
the plants on which they live. These beetles eat the leaves 
of vegetables, preferring especially plants of the cabbage, 
turnip, mustard, cress, radish, and horse-radish kind, or 
those which, in botanical language, are called cruciferous 
plants, to which they are often exceedingly injurious. The 
turnip-fly, or more properly turnip flea-beetle, is one of 
these Halticas, which lays waste the turnip-fields in Europe, 
devouring the seed-leaves of the plants as soon as they 
appear above the ground, and continuing their ravages upon 
new crops throughout the summer. Another small flea- 
beetle is often very injurious to the grape-vines in Europe, 
and a larger species attacks the same plant in this country. 
The flea-beetles conceal themselves during the winter, in dry 
places, under stones, in tufts of withered grass and moss, 
* Page 805. t Sixth edition, p. 91. 
