MEXICAN BEAN BEETLE — WHITE 



345 



commercial and home, in the States of the East from Georgia to Maine 

 and westward to Illinois. The bean, the favorite planting of every 

 garden, which had been quite free of insect injury until now, appeared 

 to the grower to be destroyed overnight by a lemon-colored fuzzy 



FiODBB 1. — Map outlining area kuowu to be infested by the Mexican bean beetle, 

 JSpilachna varivestig Muls. Cross hatching, original infestation, 1920 ; dotted line, 

 infested area up to 1932 ; unbrolien line outlines the area known to be infested by the 

 season of 1940 ; dot in Minnesota and Iowa shows location of isolated infestations in 1933 

 and 1935 respectively. 



creature, the immature stage or larva of the beetle. It was called by 

 one the "yellow peril." 



A survey in 1920 revealed the presence of the beetle over a contiguous 

 area approximating 4,500 square miles in the vicinity of Birmingham, 

 Ala. In 1921 the infested area had been increased by approximately 

 40,000 square miles, mainly in a northeasterly direction northward 



