rward
toward its head, till the whole upper surface is covered with it. There
are several other larva, feeding upon other plants, which wear cloaks of
this strange material.

Many authors suppose that the object of the larva in all these cases is
to protect itself from the heat of the sun. In all probability the real
aim of nature in the case of all these larvae is to defend them from the
attacks of birds and of cannibal and parasitic insects.

There are two broods of this insect every year. The first brood of larvae
may be found on the potato-vine toward the latter end of June, and the
second in August.

The first brood stays under ground about a fortnight before it emerges
in the perfect beetle state, and the second brood stays under ground all
winter, and only emerges at the beginning of the following June.

The perfect beetle (Fig. 11) is of a pale yellow color, with three black
stripes on its back, and bears a strong resemblance to the cucumber-bug,
(_Diabrotica vittata_, Fabr. Fig. 12.)

From this last species, however, it may be distinguished by its somewhat
larger size, and by the remarkable pinching-in of the thorax, so as to
make quite a lady-like waist there, or what naturalists call a
"constriction." The female, after coupling, lays her yellow eggs (Fig.
10,_d_) on the under surface of the leaves of the potato plant. The
larvae hatching, when full grown descend into the ground, where they
transform to pupae (Fig. 10, _c_) within a small oval chamber, from which
in time the perfect beetle emerges.

This insect in certain seasons is a great pest in the Eastern and Middle
States, but has never yet occurred in the Mississippi Valley in such
numbers as to be materially injurious.

~The Cucumber Flea Beetle~, (_Haltica cucumeris_, Harris.) This nimble
minute beetle (Fig. 13) belongs to the flea-beetles, (_Haltica_ family,)
the same sub-group of the leaf-beetles (_Phytophaga_) to which also
appertains the notorious steel-blue flea-beetle (_Haltica chalybea_,
Illiger) that is such a pest to the vineyardist. Like all the rest of
the flea-beetles, it has its hind thighs greatly enlarged, which enables
it to jump with much agility. It is not peculiar to the potato, but
infests a great variety of plants, including the cucumber, from which it
derives its name. It eats minute round holes in the leaf of the plant it
infests, but does not always penetrate entirely through it.

The larva feeds internally upon the su