Scutellista cyanea Mots

One female, Claremont, California (C. F. Baker).

Cleonymus californicus n. sp.

Female: Length, 4.00 mm.

Dark metallic green, the tegulae, antennae (except the club and pedicel) and the legs (except the concolorous coxae, the apex of caudal femar lateral and the last two pairs of tibiae dorsad more or less), reddish brown, the venation fuscous, the fore wings bifasciate, the first stripe from the base of the marginal vein and broken distad of the middle, the second from the postmarginal vein, obovate in shape, twice the width of the first. The (triangular) head, the thorax and abdomen, scaly punctate, the propodeum and abdomen 2 subglabrous, the distal margins of the abdominal segments glabrous. Propodeum foreolate along the cephatic and caudal margins, and along the median carina on each side, the lateral carina represented by a distinct, curved, foreate sulcus, the spiracle large, subreniform. Scutellum simple. Antennæ inserted near the clypeus, a little below the eyes, 11-jointed, the club pointed ovate, acuminate at apex, embraced by the long projection from one side of the apex of the distal funicle joint which reaches to distal three-fourths of the club. Funicles 1 and 2 narrowest, grading into 3, all subquadrate, 4 longest, a little longer than wide and subequal to the pedicel; 8 wider than long. Postmarginal vein a little longer than the slender, curved stigmal, about a third the length of the marginal. Stigmal vein parallel, in general trend, with the costal margin.

Two females, mountains near Claremont (C. F. Baker).

Types: Catalogue No. 20348, U. S. National Museum, the females on tags, a fore wing and an antennae on a slide.

The abdomen is subpetiolate; it was distinctly, quadrately petiolate in a male specimen of cleonymus depressus in the U. S. National Museum.

Entedon occidentalis Girault

Several specimens, Claremont, California (C. F. Baker).

Isosoma grande Riley

One winged female, mountains near Claremont, California (C. F. Baker).

Metapleura spectabilis Westwood

One female, Claremont, California (C. F. Baker).

The Rose Flea-Beetle
(Haltica probata Fall)

G. F. MOZNETTE,
ASSISTANT ENTOMOLOGIST, OREGON AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE,
CORVALLIS, OREGON

INTRODUCTION

From a careful perusal of the literature it is apparent that scarcely anything but the original description of Haltica probata Fall appears in print. As this species has at various times been reported on several of our cultivated plants, and as there is some possibility of its becoming destructive to our cultivated roses, observations have been made from time to time and this paper brings together, so far as possible, the recorded facts concerning the species.

HISTORY AND DISTRIBUTION OF THE SPECIES

The species was first described by Dr. H. C. Fall in 1910.[A] Mr. Arthur Gibson[B] mentions it as attacking leaves of strawberry plants at Nelson, British Columbia. The species is referred to as Haltica evicta Lec., but after a comparison with specimens in the writer’s collection and later in Dr. Fall’s collection at Pasadena, California, I am led to believe that the species reported by Mr. Gibson as evicta is not evicta but probata. It has been reported from Spokane, Washington, on strawberries, and at various times has been reported feeding on cultivated crops in Oregon.

The species is distributed along the Pacific Coast from British Columbia to California. It has been reported from Nelson in British Columbia; Everett and Spokane in Washington; from Corvallis, Pamelia Lake, Mary’s Peak, the Three Sisters, and Josephine County in Oregon; and from Santa Rosa, Belmont, Siskiyou, and Trinity Counties in California.

SEASONAL LIFE-HISTORY AND HABITS OF THE SPECIES

With the approach of warm weather in the spring, when the buds of the wild rose are showing their green, the little bronze beetles (Pl. I, Fig. 2) come from their winter quarters, about the middle of April or earlier depending on the spring weather conditions, and commence feeding on the tender small leaves of the expanding buds. The beetles possess a very brilliant lustre and when approached manifest a saltatorial habit, and may leap for a considerable distance. The insect passes the winter in the adult stage and during that time may be found concealed in convenient places. The writer has taken numerous individuals from beneath the moss of the scrub oak, which grows abundantly along the creeks in the Willamette Valley in Oregon. The first individuals were taken on April 11, 1913, feeding on a species of wild rose, Rosa nukatana Presl. near Corvallis, Oregon. The adults were at the time resting in the sun on the dried fruits of the rose and also on the moss which covered the oaks. In 1915, the first beetles were out on March 19 or somewhat earlier. Sometimes the March weather is too severe so that the beetles do not appear until later, and the inclement weather frequently puts a stop to the activity of the beetles and retards oviposition.

After emerging from their hibernating quarters, the beetles jump or fly to the nearest rose bush and soon begin to satisfy their appetite after the long winter’s fast. At this time the tender bursting rose buds seem to be the favorite food, and the beetles engorge themselves with bites from the prospective crop of leaves, then locked up in the buds. The beetles seem to be most active during the warmer sunshiny portions of the day, when they may be seen jumping and flying about the rose bushes. When touched or jarred, they at once drop quickly to the ground, where they feign death for a short time, later returning to the foliage. Their shining bronze color renders it easy to discover and watch them at their destructive work. They begin gnawing an unsightly hole into either the side or top of the bursting leaf bud, often boring into the bud so far as to be almost hidden from view. It usually takes the beetles a few days to satisfy their vigorous spring appetites; then they turn their attention to the propagation of their kind. The later emerging adults feed voraciously on the foliage (Pl. I, Fig. 5) eating out irregular places in the leaves.