36 STORIES OF INSECT LIFE. 



the soil surface or under rubbish above it they change to pupse, 

 emerging as perfect beetles about ten days later. The number 

 of broods varies with the latitude, there being from two to 

 four each season. 



This insect was originally a native of the Rocky Mountain 

 region, where it fed upon a wild plant related to the cultivated 

 potato. When the garden patches of the settlers extended to its 

 habitat, so that there were potatoes growing at short distances 

 apart throughout the region between the Rocky Mountains and 

 the Atlantic Ocean, these beetles began feeding upon the new 

 food plant and rapidly spread eastward, until within a few 

 years from the time they started they had reached the eastern 

 states. Then they were carried to various European countries 

 by means of steamboats and sailing vessels. 



These potato beetles have a few enemies to contend against. 

 Their eggs are greedily devoured by ladybird beetles and their 

 larvae, and the other stages are eaten by the Rose-breasted 

 Grosbeak and perhaps a few other birds. 



