144 MANUAL OF VEGETABLE-GARDEN INSECTS 



by the prevailing west and southwest winds during the season 

 when the beetles were on the wing. The rapid spread of the 

 Colorado potato beetle across the eastern United States has 

 had no equal in historic times, except possibly in the case of 



Fig. 81. — Eggplant killed by the Colorado potato beetle. 



the recent advance of the cotton boll-weevil through the cotton 

 belt of the southern states. 



After reaching the Atlantic Coast in 1874, the potato beetle 

 gradually extended its range southward east of the Appa- 

 lachian Mountains, but northern Florida was not invaded 

 until about 1900. The advance down the Mississippi Valley 



