posed of stiff prickles, around the thin edges of the body, and a long forked tail. This fork serves to hold the excrement when voided; and a mass of it half as large as the body of the insect is often thus accumulated. The tail, with the loaded fork, is turned over the back, and thus protects the insect from the sun, and probably also from its enemies. The first broods of larvæ arrive at their growth and change to pupæ early in July, fixing themselves firmly by the hinder part of their bodies to the leaves, when this change is about to take place. The pupa remains fastened to the cast-skin of the larva. It is broad oval, fringed, at the sides, and around the forepart of the broad thorax, with large prickles. Soon afterwards the beetles come forth, and lay their eggs for a second brood of grubs, which, in turn, are changed to beetles in the course of the autumn. In June 1824, the late Mr. John Lowell sent me specimens of this little beetle, which he found to be injurious to the sweet potato-vine, by eating large holes through the leaves. This beetle is very broad oval in shape, and about one fifth of an inch in length. When living it has the power of changing its hues, at one time appearing only of a dull yellow color, and at other times shining with the splendor of polished brass or gold, tinged sometimes also with the variable tints of pearl. The body of the insect is blackish beneath, and the legs are dull yellow. It loses its brilliancy after death. The wing-covers, the parts which exhibit the change of color, are lined beneath with an orange-colored paint, which seems to be filled with little vessels; and these are probably the source of the changeable brilliancy of the insect.

The Chrysomelians (CRYSOMELADE) compose an extensive tribe of leaf-eating beetles, formerly included in the old genus Chrysomela. The meaning of this word is golden beetle, and many of the insects, to which it was applied by Linnæus, are of brilliant and metallic colors. They differ, however, so much in their essential characters, their forms, and their habits, that they are now very properly distributed into four separate groups or families. The first of these, called GALERUCADE, or Galerucians, consists mostly of dull-colored beetles; having an oblong oval, slightly convex body; a short, and rather narrow, and uneven thorax; slender antennæ, more than half the length of the

body, and implanted close together on the forehead; slender legs, which are nearly equal in size, and claws split at the end. They fly mostly by day, and are, by nature, either very timid or very cunning, for, when we attempt to take hold of them, they draw up their legs, and fall to the ground. They sometimes do great injury to plants, eating large holes in the leaves, or consuming entirely those that are young and tender. The larvæ are rather short cylindrical grubs, generally of a blackish color, and are provided with six legs. They live and feed together in swarms, and sometimes appear in very great numbers on the leaves of plants, committing ravages, at these times, as extensive as those of the most destructive caterpillars. This was the case in 1837 at Sevres, in France, and in 1838 and 1839 in Baltimore and its vicinity, where the elm-trees were entirely stripped of their leaves during midsummer by swarms of the larvæ of Galeruca Calmariensis; and, in the latter place, after the trees had begun to revive, and were clothed with fresh leaves, they were again attacked by new broods of these noxious grubs. These insects, which were undoubtedly introduced into America with the European elm, are as yet unknown in the New England States. The eggs of the Galerucians are generally laid in little clusters or rows along the veins of the leaves, and those of the elm Galeruca are of a yellow color. The pupa state of some species occurs on the leaves, of others in the ground; and some of the larvæ live also in the ground on the roots of plants. This is probably the case with those of the cucumber-beetle. This destructive insect is the Galeruca vittata*, or striped Galeruca, generally known here by the names of striped bug and cucumber-bug. It is of a light yellow color above, with a black head, and a broad black stripe on each wing-cover, the inner edge or suture of which is also black, forming a third narrower stripe down the middle of the back; the abdomen, the greater part of the fore-legs, and the knees and feet of the other legs, are black. It is rather less than one fifth of an inch long. Early in the spring it devours the tender leaves of various plants. I have found it often on those of our Aronias, Amelanchier botryapium and ovalis, and Pyrus arbutifolia, to

*Crioceris vittata of Fabricius.

wards the end of April. It makes its first appearance, on cucumber, squash, and melon vines, about the last of May and first of June, or as soon as the leaves begin to expand ; and, as several broods are produced in the course of the summer, it may be found at various times on these plants, till the latter are destroyed by frost. Great numbers of these little beetles may be obtained in the autumn from the flowers of squash and pumpkin vines, the pollen and germs of which they are very fond of. They get into the blossoms as soon as the latter are opened, and are often caught there by the twisting and closing of the top of the flower; and, when they want to make their escape, they are obliged to gnaw a hole through the side of their temporary prison. The females lay their eggs in the ground, and the larvæ probably feed on the roots of plants, but they have hitherto escaped my researches.

Various means have been suggested and tried to prevent the ravages of these striped cucumber-beetles, which have become notorious throughout the country for their attacks upon the leaves of the cucumber and squash. Dr. B. S. Barton, of Philadelphia, recommended sprinkling the vines with a mixture of tobacco and red pepper, which he stated to be attended with great benefit. Watering the vines with a solution of one ounce of Glauber's salts in a quart of water, or with tobacco water, an infusion of elder, of walnut leaves, or of hops, has been highly recommended. Mr. Gourgas, of Weston, has found no application so useful as ground plaster of Paris; and a writer in the "American Farmer" extols the use of charcoal dust. Deane recommended sifting powdered soot upon the plants when they are wet with the morning dew, and others have advised sulphur and Scotch snuff to be applied in the same way. As these insects dy by night, as well as by day, and are attracted by lights, lighted splinters of pine knots or of staves of tar-barrels, stuck into the ground during the night, around the plants, have been found useful in destroying these beetles. The most effectual preservative both against these insects and the equally destructive black flea-beetles which infest the vines in the spring, consists in covering the young vines with millinet stretched over small wooden frames. Mr. Levi Bartlett, of Warner, N. H., has described a method for making these

frames expeditiously and economically, and his directions may be found in the second volume of the "New England Farmer",* and in Fessenden's "New American Gardener ",† 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 HALTICADE. 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 narrowed before; the head is pretty broad; the antennæ 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. It is stated in Young's "Annals of Agriculture" that the loss, in Devonshire, England, in one season, from the destruction of the turnip crops by this little insect, was estimated at one hundred thousand pounds sterling. Another small flea-beetle is often very injurious to the grape-vines in Europe, and a larger species attacks the same

*

Page 305.

↑ Sixth edition, page 91.

Vol. VII., p. 102.

plant in this country. The flea-beetles conceal themselves during the winter, in dry places, under stones, in tufts of withered grass, and in chinks of walls. They lay their eggs in the spring, upon the leaves of the plants upon which they feed. The larvæ, or young, of the smaller kinds burrow into the leaves, and eat the soft pulpy substance under the skin, forming therein little winding passages, in which they finally complete their transformations. Hence the plants suffer as much from the depredations of the larvæ, as from those of the beetles, a fact that has too often been overlooked. The larvæ of the larger kinds are said to live exposed upon the surface of the leaves which they devour, till they have come to their growth, and to go into the ground, where they are changed to pupa, and soon afterwards to beetles. The mining larvæ, the only kinds which are known to me from personal examination, are little slender grubs, tapering towards each end, and provided with six legs. They arrive at maturity, turn to pupæ, and then to beetles in a few weeks. Hence there is a constant succession of these insects, in their various states, throughout the summer. The history of the greater part of our Halticas. or flea-beetles is still unknown; I shall, therefore, only add, to the foregoing general remarks, descriptions of two or three common species, and suggest such remedies as seem to be useful in protecting plants from their ravages.

The most destructive species in this vicinity is that which attacks the cucumber plant as soon as the latter appears above the ground, eating the seed-leaves, and thereby destroying the plant immediately. Supposing this to be an undescribed insect, I formerly named it Haltica Cucumeris, the cucumber flea-beetle; but Mr. Say subsequently informed me that it was the pubescens of Illiger, so named because it is very slightly pubescent or downy. It is only one sixteenth of an inch long, of a black color, with clay-yellow antennæ and legs, except the hindmost thighs, which are brown. The upper side of the body is covered with punctures, which are arranged in rows on the wing-cases; and there is a deep transverse furrow across the hinder part of the thorax. The wavy-striped flea-beetle, Haltica striolata*, may be seen

* Crioceris striolata, Fabricius.