'I'lIK \.K.\F UKH'ri,KS. 



115:^ 



•_M.".t; (C.TSKi. I.Ki'i i.NoTAKSA iii;i'i;m 1 i\i Ai A Sny. .loiirn. I'liil. AcmiI. Nut. 

 Sci.. 111. isi'l. l').".: il'i<l. II. -is. 



Ov.-il. iMliiisl. coiivi-x. I>iill \('lli'\\ : IlKirax - 



' 3 

 with two short, di vciummiI liiu's cii (lisl< niul sis /Tii^,,- /j-x 



small spots cacli side, black; clylra with siilurc \ F^A-/T-==^''''^ 



and live nafrnw lines >ni each side. hLaci<. liif 4 ° 



sfcond and liiifil nnitcd near a|H'X : knees aiK 



tafsi hlarkisii. l.t-n.^lh .">.."> 11 nnn. ( Fiic. I'.IT. ) 



'I'lic oi'iuiiiiil liumc di' litis wc'.l-Uiinwii 

 lactic^ Wiis ( 'iil(ii';i(l(>. S;iy linvitii:,' dcsi-filicl 

 it Ifoiii tin I'ppci- Alissiuifi l\i\('i', wlicic it 

 I'cd iipdii tin sand nettle, Suhiiiiini raslra- 

 limi Idiiinl. Il iiiadi' its way L;i';idiinl ly 

 eastwai'd, niiei'atiiio IVoiii oiu' potato paleli 

 to aiiotlief. aided, doiihtless. by failways 

 and coinniei'cc, until it has si)i'oad (tvci- tlu^ 

 wliole of tluM'nstern United States. U tirst i'« '*'■'"■ a, adult ix-otif; 15, i.imi 



tardus ol saine; i, tlurd tarsal joint; 



ai)p(>artHl in nnmlicfs in Indiana altout 4, uw lomtii joint; .5, so-caiiod fourth 



joint. (After Sharp.) 



1S()S. and the first lieetles ever collected hy 



the writer were these "new-fashioned" oi' "Cohtrado potato btiii's," 

 an old tin basin and a stout stick lieinu' the paraphernalia used. 

 Siififiee it to say they were not taken for a eoUection, but at a fixed 

 sum per hundred, i)aid to the children to clear the patch of the 

 pests. Afterwards the discovery that a solution of P.iris u'recii 

 "would fix '(Mil" put the tin liasin method of collection out of voi>-ue. 

 For a number of years the potato industry in the State was al- 

 most destroyed by this beetle, but its damai^es i>Tadiially lessened, 

 until now they appear much fewer in numbers than between the 

 years 1870 and 1890, and are readily ke[)t in check Ity Paris green 

 and other arsenites. The beetle hibernates in the ground, both as 

 I)upa and imago, and begins to mate about ^lay first, each female 

 producing 750 to 1,000 eggs, these lieing laid at intervals through 

 forty days. Under normal conditions it re(iuires but about 36 days 

 from the laying of the eggs to the perfecting of the imago, and in 

 about 14 (hiys after emerging, the beetle begins to lay a second gen- 

 ei'ation of eggs. The first or si»ring brood hecomes fertile, there- 

 foi'e, about July 1st, and the second generation by Septemlier 1st. 

 It attacks not only |)o1atoes, l)ut egg plant and other members of 

 the Solanaeea' or potato family. The rose-breasted grosbeak, yel- 

 low-billed cuckoo Ol- rain-crow, and the (luail \\'^'{\ upon the larva' of 

 the beetle, as do also turkeys and occasionally chickens. 





