320 MANUAL OF VEGETABLE-GARDEN INSECTS 



plants. The egg is about ^V inch in 

 length, pale yellowish gray in color and 

 elongate oval in outline. The larv?e feed 

 on the roots and stems below ground and 

 pupate in the soil an inch or so from 

 the surface. After about a month from 

 the time the egg was laid the beetle 

 appears. The number of generations 

 annually has not been determined but in 

 California there are said to be several. 

 The tobacco flea-beetle can be controlled by the measures 

 suggested for the potato flea-beetle. 



Reference 

 U. S. Div. Ent. Bull. 19, pp. 85-87. 1899. 



Fig. 198. — The tobacco 

 flea-beetle (X 18). 



The Eggplant Flea-Beetle 



Epitrix fuscula Crotch 



This species is also closely related to the potato flea-beetle. 

 It ranges from New Jersey through Illinois, Nebraska and 

 Utah to California and southward to 

 Georgia and Louisiana. In size and 

 general appearance, it closely resembles 

 the potato flea-beetle but all the femora 

 are black, the transverse depression near 

 the hind margin of the prothorax is less 

 distinct and the w^ing-covers are slightly 

 more hairy (Fig. 199). The beetles 

 come out of hibernation in early spring, 

 as early as March 20th in Indiana. 

 They show a decided preference for 

 eggplant but have also been found injurious to potato and 

 have been recorded as feeding on horse-nettle, hazelnut, poke- 

 weed, sugar-beet and strawberry. 



Fig. 199. — The egg- 

 plant flea-beetle (X 16). 



