INSECTS INJURIOUS TO BEANS AND PEAS 



III 



cultivated beggarweed or tickseed. The larvae feed on the roots 

 and main stems of the same plants just below the surface. 



The beetle resembles in several particulars the cucumber 

 beetles. It measures from a seventh to a fifth of an inch in 

 length, and varies in color from pale yellowish or buff to dull 

 greasy red, with black markings, arranged, in what appears to 

 be the typical form, as in figure 65, a. Individuals occur, how- 

 ever, in which the elytral marking is entirely wanting. 



This species is native and found from Canada southward to 

 the Gulf States and westward to Kansas and Minnesota. 



In the South the beetles appear in April, and northward as 

 late as June. The minute orange-colored eggs (fig. 65,/) are 

 laid about the stem of the insects' food plant, in clusters of six 

 or more, and the larvre eat 

 around the stem and roots. 



Remedies. — Hand-picking and 

 pyrethrum are useful in small 

 gardens early in the season ; but 

 our chief reliance is in arseni- 

 cals when the insect is numer- 

 ous. Arsenate of lead should 

 be employed on the first appear- 

 ance of the beetles in order to 

 stop them at the outset. An 

 important measure is the care- 

 ful weeding out of wild food 

 plants, such as tick trefoil and bush-clover, in the neighborhood 

 of cultivated fields. 



The Pea Moth {Scmasia nigricana Steph.). — In Canada, where 

 pea-growing is an important industry, there is, in addition to 

 the pea weevil discussed in previous pages, a seed-infesting in- 

 sect known as the pea moth, the larva of which develops in 

 ripening peas in the pods. The moth (fig. 66) is a small 

 Tortricid, with a wing expanse of about half an inch. The 



Fig. 66.— Pea moth (Steph.) Moth above, 

 larva below. About three times natural 

 size. (Author's illustration, U. S. Dept. 

 Agr.) 



