674 State Board of Agriculture, &c. 



near the surface. The perfect beetle appears in a little less 

 than two weeks, pairs when about one week old, and a week 

 later comtnences the deposits of eggs, as before described. 

 From three to four broods will be hatched in a season. The 

 statements of time are, however, liable to vary, being longer 

 or shorter, according as the weather is more or less favora- 

 ble to their development. 



The mature beetle, as its name indicates, has ten lines of 



black lengthwise of its wing covers, five on each side, the 



ground being a medium yellow. It has several black spots 



upon its head and thorax, also six legs, and pink gauze 



wings under the striped wing covers described. It passes 



the winter in the perfect beetle state, burrowing in the 



ground beneath the frost, coming out unimpregnated in the 



spring, just in season to lay its eggs on the young potato 



plant. 



Bad as these beetles are. they are not so bad as popular 

 opinion makes them. Their first onset is the most severe, 

 and farmers accustomed to give up to imaginary evils will 

 talk about the extermination of the potato. Of tliat there 

 is no danger from this cause. In Iowa, in 1870, the beetles 

 were very al^undant, so much so that they swarmed over 

 barns and outhouses, and also entered dwellings so that you 

 could hardly sit down or walk without crushing them, yet 

 the crop of potatoes was the largest ever known, and thej 

 were retailed in the streets for twenty-five cents per bushel. 

 Tliis. abundant crop was raised by every one planting in 

 anticipation of high prices, thus bringing the opposite 

 result. 



By some this beetle is considered poisonous, but from no 



