130 
COLEOPTERA. 
country these beetles begin to come out of their winter 
quarters towards the end of April, and continue to appear till 
the latter part of May. Soon after their first appearance 
they pair, and probably lay their eggs on the leaves of the 
vine, and perhaps on other plants also. A second brood of 
the beetles is found on the grape-vines towards the end of 
July. I have not had an opportunity to trace the history 
of these insects any further, and consequently their larvae are 
unknown to me. Mr. David Thomas has given an interest- 
ing account of their habits and ravages in the twenty-sixth 
volume of Silliman’s “ American Journal of Science and 
Arts.” These brilliant insects were observed by him, in the 
spring of 1831, in Cayuga County, N. Y., creeping on the 
vines, and destroying the buds, by eating out the central 
succulent parts. Some had burrowed even half their length 
into the buds. When disturbed, they jump rather than fly, 
and remain where they fall for a time without motion. 
During the same season these beetles appeared in unusu- 
ally great numbers in New Ilaven, Conn., and its vicinity, 
and the injury done by them was “wholly unexampled.” 
“ Some vines were entirely despoiled of their fruit buds, so 
as to be rendered, for that season, barren.” Mr. Thomas 
found the vine-leaves were infested, in the years 1830 and 
1831, by “ small chestnut-colored smooth worms,” and sus- 
pecting these to be the larvae of the beetle (which he called 
Chrysomela vitivora ), ho fed them in a tumbler, containing 
some moist earth, until they were fully grown, when they 
buried themselves in the earth. “ After a fortnight oi so, 
some of the beetles were found in the tumbler. Hence there 
is no doubt that the former were the larvae of the beetles, 
and that they undergo their transformations in the ground. 
A good description of the larvae, and a more full account of 
their habits, seasons, and changes, are still wanted. 
In England, where the ravages of the turnip flea-beetle 
have attracted great attention, and have caused many and 
various experiments to be tried with a view of checking 
