fieabane (fle ban)

One of several composite plants, so called from their supposed power of destroying or driving away fleas. The common fleabane of England is Puli car i a dysenteric a, or sometimes P. vulgar is, and the blue fleabane is Erigeron acris. In the United States the common fleabane is Erigeron Phil a delphic us, the daisy-fleabane is E. strigosus or E. annuus, and the marsh-fleabane is Pluchea camphor at a. In Jamaica the name is given to Vernon i a arbores cens. flea-beetle (flē'bē"tl), n. The common name of the saltatorial chrysomelids, or those species of leaf-beetles which are capable of leaping by means of their thickened hind thighs. There are very many of them, mostly of small size. One of the commonest in the United States is the cucumber flea-beetle, IMG:content-1470.jpg:[subsumed][ocr errors][subsumed][subsumed] Grape-vine Flea-beetle (Haltica chalybea). a, leaf infested with larvæ; b , larva; c , cocoon; d, beetle. (Lines show natural sizes.) Haltica or Crepidodera cucumeris (Harris), which is black, hairy, with the thorax punctate and transversely impre ed at the base, the wing-covers punctate-striate, and the antennæ and legs partly yellow. Another is the striped flea beetle, Phyllo tret a vittata (Fabric i us), which is metallic black, the thorax without impre ion, the elytra not punetured in rows, but with two sinuous yellow stripes. Its larva injures cabbages by mining in the leaves. Haltica chalybea is the grape-vine flea-beetle. Quite a number of Chrysomelidæ have the hind femora much thickened, enabling them to jump. Some of the smaller species jump with great activity, and on that account have been termed flea -beetles. Stand. Nat . Hist ., II. 315.