CHAPTER IV 

 BEET AND SPINACH INSECTS 



The insects attacking beet and spinach, as a rule, also feed 

 on related wild plants, chiefly various species of Ch?enopodium 

 and Amaranthus. Many of these plants are common weeds 

 and serve as centers from which infestation spreads to culti- 

 vated crops. Over one hundred and fifty insects have been 

 recorded as feeding on sugar-beets, about forty of which are 

 considered as important pests. The sugar-beet is classed as a 

 field crop and in this chapter only those insects are treated 

 which have been found causing important injury to garden 

 beets and spinach. The two principal insect pests of spinach 

 are the leaf-miner and the aphis, their combined attacks often 

 making the growing of this crop unprofitable in certain localities. 



The Spinach Leaf-Miner 



Pegomijia hyoscyami Panzer 



This troublesome pest of beets and allied crops is present in 

 both Europe and America. In Europe the insect has been 

 known for over a century and in this country it first attracted 

 attention by its injuries about 1880. It is now generally dis- 

 tributed throughout the United States and Canada. The 

 maggots infest the leaves of spinach, orach, beets, sugar-beets, 

 mangels and chard. Its other food plants are lamb's quarters, 

 and in the British Isles and Europe deadly nightshade, henbane, 



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