164- 



LEAF-BEETLES. 



tobacco, egg-plants, and pepper, and can cause considerable mis- 

 chief to the young and tender plants, into which they eat numer- 

 ous holes. 



The beetle ; s very small, black, covered with rather thick- 

 hairs ; the feelers and legs are reddish-brown. It is a very active 

 being, and one very difficult to capture, being as agile as a healthy 

 and vigorous flea. In the larval stage it feeds chiefly in the 

 roots of the tomato. 



Fig. 168. — Epitrix paivula, Fab. — After Division of Entomology, U. S. Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture. 



/•'. fuscula Cr., has once been very destructive in hot-house 

 iiames, in which it killed numerous small egg-plants; E. farvula 

 Fab., so destructive to tobacco in the southern statts, is shown 

 in Fig. 1 68. 



As far as remedies are concerned, Paris-green and London- 

 purple are satisfactory remedies, and it has also been observed 

 that the Bordeaux mixture, used against certain diseases of 

 plants, when liberally used, acts as a deterrent, and thus serves 

 a double purpose. If poisons can not be used a decoction of to- 

 bacco is of great benefit, at least if we have to use it only on a 

 small scale. 



