PEA AND BEAN INSECTS 



81 



The Bean Leaf- Holler 



Eudamus prolcus LinnEeus 



The bean leaf-roller is a tropical insect ranging from Para- 

 guay through Mexico and the West Indies to Florida and 

 northward sometimes to New York and Connecticut. In the 

 United States it has proved injurious only in Florida. Its 

 injuries are usually confined 

 to beans, though it is 

 recorded as feeding on 

 cowpea, turnip, cabbage 

 and several species of 

 Desmodium. Sometimes 

 entire fields have been 

 ruined by the attacks of 

 this leaf-roller. 



In the extreme southern 

 part of Florida and in the 

 tropics, the insect breeds 

 continuously throughout the 

 year. In northern Florida Fig. 57. 

 it undoubtedly hibernates 

 in the pupal stage. The first brood of butterflies appears in 

 March. The butterfly has an expanse of about If inches. 

 The wings are dark chocolate brown ; the front wings are 

 marked with several angular silvery white spots. The hind 

 wings are furnished with long tails, somewhat similar to those 

 of the swallowtail butterflies (Fig. 57). 



The butterfly lays its eggs singly or in groups of four to six 

 on the underside of the leaves. Occasionally three to four eggs 

 are piled one above the other in a vertical column. The egg 

 is nearly globular, slightly flattened at both ends and marked 

 with a series of delicate longitudinal ridges. It is nearly ^ 

 inch in length. When first laid, the eggs are glistening white, 



G 



The bean leaf-roller butterfly 

 (X U). 



