PEA AND BEAN INSECTS 65 



and then heating the water to a temperature of 140 degrees F. 

 The seed should then be spread out where it will dry quickly. 



The Bean Leaf-Beetle 



Cerotoma trifurcata Forster 



The bean leaf-beetle is a native American insect distributed 

 from New York, southern Canada, Minnesota, IMissouri and 

 Kansas southward to Florida, Texas and New Mexico. It 

 also occurs in Porto Rico. Its native food plants are the hog 

 peanut, bush clover and tick trefoil. It has been reported as 

 injurious to the bean, cowpea^ pea, soybean, cultivated beggar- 

 weed and corn. 



The insect hibernates in the adult stage and in the South 

 the beetles appear in the field in April, in the District of Colum- 

 bia the middle of May, and in the more northern part of their 

 range not until the last of June or the first of July. The 

 beetle (Fig. 47) is about ^ inch in length, yellowish to reddish 

 in color; the head is black and each wing-cover has a black 

 band running around its base and extending backward close 

 to, but separated from, the margin nearly to the tip. Near 

 the inner margin is a row of three black spots, larger in front 

 and smaller behind. The antennae are yellowish toward the 

 base and darker toward the tip. The legs are marked with 

 black and yellow, the hind pair being the darkest. The beetles 

 usually rest on the underside of the leaves where they are 

 easily overlooked. In feeding, they eat out holes in the leaves 

 and when abundant leave only the larger veins. The plants 

 are often defoliated and the crop is ruined. The beetles do 

 not take wing readily but when disturbed fall to the ground. 

 The female deposits her eggs in clusters in the soil at the base 

 of the plants. Clusters of over forty have been observed but 

 the average is about tw^elve. The egg is about ^ inch in 

 length, elliptical in outline, orange in color and the surface is 



