204 FRUIT INSECTS 



the foliage and causing the death of young grafts or seedUngs. 

 Most of the species attacking apples are common and widely 

 distributed over the United States and Canada. 



The apple flea-beetles {Haltica foliacea Leconte ; and Haltica 

 punctipennis Leconte) 



These two bright, shining green flea-beetles are about | of 

 an inch in length and distinguished from each other with diffi- 

 culty. The first species lives mostly in the southwest, from 

 Texas to Arizona, while punctipennis usually has more dis- 

 tinctly punctuated wing-covers and is common from Missouri 

 westward to California. Most of the injuries to apple trees, 

 although recorded as the work of foliacea, are now considered 

 to have been done by punctipennis. Injury to young apple 

 trees by these two species has been reported mostly from 

 Kansas, Colorado and New Mexico. They are the only species 

 of these flea-beetles attacking apple which are known to breed 

 upon the apple, their blackish grubs sometimes skeletonizing 

 the leaves in July. There is apparently but one generation 

 annually, the beetles hibernating. 



The pale-striped flea-beetle (Systena tceniala Say) 

 This flea-beetle, about | of an inch long, varies in color from 

 almost black to a pale brownish, and it has a whitish longitudinal 

 stripe extending down the middle of each wing-cover. Its 

 grubs are root-feeders on weeds and corn, but the beetles are 

 very general feeders. The terminal buds, and later the leaves, 

 on apple and pear grafts have been destroyed by the beetles in 

 Arkansas, and 20,000 seedling apples were stripped in seven 

 days and killed in New York in June, 1900. 



The smartweed flea-beetle (Systena hudsonias Forster) 



This totally black flea-beetle, about i of an inch long, gener- 

 ally feeds on smartweed; dock and other weeds, and little is 



