THE BEETLES: COLEOPTERA 51 



boy. It is particularly harmful because both the larvae 

 (Fig. 35, b) and adults (Fig. 35, d) feed upon the leaves 

 of the potato plants. Originally it was confined to the 

 Rocky Mountain region, where it fed on the wild relatives 

 of the potato. In about 1855 it commenced feeding on the 

 potato plant. It spread so rapidly that in about fifteen 



Fig. 35. Stages in the life of the Colorado potato beetle 



a, eggs on leaf ; b, larvae ; c, pupa from soil ; d, adult ; e, one wing ; /, a leg ; 

 a-d, natural size ; e, f, enlarged. (Redrawn from Riley) 



years it appeared on the Atlantic coast and has become a 

 pest throughout the country wherever potatoes are grown. 

 The Cotton Boll Weevil. The cotton boll weevil (An- 

 thon'omus gran'dis) is one of the small snout beetles, the 

 larva of which lives in the buds of the plant, destroying the 

 fibers so that the infected boll produces no cotton. The boll 

 weevil is not a native of the United States, but came in 

 over the Mexican boundary about 1890. It has spread 

 widely over the cotton-growing states. In 1923 it destroyed 

 more than one half of the entire cotton crop. 



