CHAPTER XIII 



CHANGED ENVIRONMENT FOR LEPTINOTARSA 



Kansas will never forget the year 1862. Potato bugs had 

 arrived. They were crossing the state, destroying the crops 

 and driving the farmers to despair. One afflicted man wrote 



to the editor of the Val- 

 ley Farmer about it : 



" I cultivate about ten 

 acres of land," he says, 

 " for the purpose of rais- 

 ing potatoes for my 

 hotel ; it is situated on 

 the prairie land. Last 

 August, soon after a 

 heavy shower of rain, 

 these bugs suddenly 

 made th'eir appearance 

 in large numbers on the 

 potato vines. They were 

 so numerous that in 

 many instances they 

 would almost cover the 

 whole vine. It is no ex- 

 aggeration when I tell 



you that we have often, in a very short time, gathered as many 

 as two bushels of them. When cold weather set in, they 

 disappeared. Early this spring I was setting out some apple 



88 



LEPTINOTARSA DECEMLINEATA, THE 

 TRAVELER 



Color, yellow with black stripes ; length, about 

 one third of an inch 



