CLASSIFICATION AND DESCRIPTION OF COMMON INSECTS 315 



Control. — Dust the plants with a mixture of i lb. Paris green and 20 

 lb. land plaster on first appearance of "fly." 



Horse-radish Flea Beetle {Phyllotreta armor acice Koch). — An oval 

 beetle, ^i inch long, with yellow wing-covers bordered with black 

 and with a longitudinal black band through the middle. The larvae 

 bore into the petioles of horse-radish and the adults feed on the leaves 

 and gouge deeply into the midribs, causing drying and death. Intro- 

 duced from Europe about 1893 (Fig. 205). 



Red-headed Flea Beetle (Systena frontalis Fab.). — Injures grapes, 

 gooseberry, sugar beet, horse bean, potato, clover, and other plants. 



Adult. — Shining black, with a red head; punctations on wing-covers 

 dense but not coarse; 14 inch long. 



Fig. 204. — Turnip flea beetle. 

 Enlarged 12 times. {After Riley, 

 U. S. Depl. Agric.) 



Fig. 205. — Horse-radish flea beetle. 

 Enlarged 9 times. {After Chittenden.) 



Banded Flea Beetle {Systena tceniata Say). — Injurious in beet fields, 

 in vegetable gardens and in orchards. 



Adult. — Black to brownish, with a whitish longitudinal stripe down 

 middle of each wing-cover; 3^^ inch long; omnivorous. 



Eggs. — Elliptical, opaque, light yellow; finely granulated, June- July. 



Larva. — Slender, sluggish, 1^ inch long, yellowish- white, narrowing 

 toward the front; sutures of thorax with an X-mark; anal segment 

 pointed with a crown of spines and four long hairs; winters. 



Smartweed Flea Beetle {Systena hudsonias Forst.). — Sometimes 

 feeds on leaves of sugar beets, young apple and pear trees. 



