Feb. 14, 19x6 
Cherry Leaf Beetle 
945 
LIFE HISTORY AND HABITS 
The cherry leaf beetle is a pretty, dull-red beetle measuring 4.5 to 
5.5 mm. in length (PI. LXIV, fig. 1). The antennae are black, and the 
legs vary from almost black to nearly reddish in color. There are no 
strikingly distinguishing characters, but the coloring will nearly always 
serve to separate it from the more closely related northern species. The 
beetle is widely distributed, occurring from Canada through the New 
England States southward into Pennsylvania and west to Wisconsin. 
Chittenden (1) also records it from Texas and Vancouver, British 
Columbia. The original specimen described by Ee Conte (5, p. 216) is 
from North Carolina. 
This insect is one of our native beet es and up to 1894 had only been 
recorded on wild cherry. In that year it was found attacking the culti¬ 
vated cherry, destroying the foliage. Later Smith (8) recorded it as 
injuring peach, and this year it has been reported as feeding on plum. 
How much more extended the feeding habits of this beetle may become 
can not even be guessed, though its future destructiveness will depend 
largely upon whether the larvae can also adapt themselves to new and 
closely related food plants. 
The beetles pass the winter in hibernation and, although the time 
of emergence has not been determined, they probably appear in May 
or, if the weather is favorable, during the latter part of April. They 
feed actively during May and June not only on the pin cherry but also 
on the peach, cherry, and in some instances the plum (PI. LXV, fig. 5). 
In the field the beetles began to leave the cultivated food plants early in 
July and practically all had gone by the middle of the month. 
In New York State there is only a single brood a season. The new 
brood of adults appears during the second week in August and becomes 
common during the latter part of the month and early September; they 
feed almost exclusively on the pin cherry and do not seem to migrate far 
from their host plant. In our rearing cages they began entering the soil 
or crawling under stones about the middle of September, but on fine days 
would return to feed on the pin-cherry foliage. In early October they 
had all entered hibernating quarters and did not leave them even on the 
finest or warmest days. 
The work of the beetles is most noticeable during June and early July. 
After the middle of July the beetles had largely disappeared from the 
cultivated trees about Ithaca. Although many adults had been seen 
in copula, no eggs were observed, despite a close watch on all their new 
food plants. It was supposed that in accordance with the habits of 
closely allied species, as the elm leaf beetle {Galer cella luteola ), the 
eggs would be found on the host plant. 
On July 21 Mr. Cotton, a student in the Entomological Department, 
found adults and what he considered larvae of this species on pin cherry. 
