APPLE INSECTS— B0REE8 AND MISCELLANEOUS 205 



known of its life history. In June and July, 1897, it swarmed 

 on to apple and pc^ar grafts and 2-year-old trees in a New York 

 nursery, and fed voraciously on the upper and lower surfaces of 

 the leaves, riddling them and killing many of the grafts. 



The ivillotv flea-beetle (Crepidodera helxines Linnaeus) 



This tiny, European flea-beetle, only yV of ^i^ inch in length, 

 is smooth, and varies from a brownish bronze to a metallic blue 

 or green color. It is often found on willows eating small, round 

 holes in the leaves, and the beetles hibernate, appearing in 

 May and June. They once riddled the foliage of young apple 

 trees in an Illinois nursery in June. The cucumber flea-beetle 

 (Epitrix cucumeris Harris) was also detected at the same 

 work in Illinois early in May. It is about f smaller than the 

 willow species, of a shining black color, somewhat hairy, and 

 is a common pest in gardens on potatoes, cucumbers and other 

 vines. Its grubs sometimes cause ''pimply" potatoes. 



Another Chrysomelid beetle {Syneta alhida Leconte), although 

 not of the group known as Flea-beetles, attacked apple, cherry 

 and peach trees in a similar manner in Oregon in 1892. The 

 slender, yellowish-brown (the females are yellowish-white) 

 beetles, about i of an inch in length, riddled the foliage and 

 blossoms in April, sometimes cutting half through the stems 

 of the young fruits. A sudden jar of the infested trees caused 

 many of them to drop, so they could be readily collected on 

 sheets or curculio-catchers, or a thorough application of a poison 

 spray would kill them. 



The red-legged flea-beetle (Crepidodera ruflpes Linnaeus) 



This little flea-beetle, about yV of an inch long, with shiny, 

 blue wing-covers and reddish-brown head, antennae, thorax 

 and legs, is common in Europe and widely distributed in the 

 United States, where its favorite food seems to be black locust 



