2l8 



INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETABLES 



solanaceous plants, of which they are specific enemies, riddling 

 the leaves with punctures and causing them to die, thus weak- 

 ening the vitality of the plants, while the larvie of some of them 

 feed at the roots and do injury in this manner. The most im- 

 portant of these insects are three species known respectively 

 as the potato, the eggplant and the tobacco flea-beetles, their 

 names indicating the plants which they most often injure. 

 This potato flea-beetle (fig. 138) is the most destructive of 

 this group. The name "cucumber flea-beetle" was given it by 



Fig- 138.— Potato flea-beetle. 

 Much enlarged. (Author's il- 

 lustration, U. S. Dept. Agr.) 



Fig. 1 39. — Egg-plant flea-beetle. 

 Greatly enlarged. (Author's il- 

 lustration, U. S. Dept. Agr.) 



Harris, who found it very destructive to cucumber, eating the 

 seed leaves and destroying the plant. It is very minute, meas- 

 uring only 1/16 inch in length, perfectly black, with clay- 

 yellow antennae and legs, and there is a deep transver.se furrow 

 at the base of the thorax. This species is generally known 

 from Massachusetts to Georgia, and westward to California. 



Injuries are most apparent, however, in the North. The 

 larva is confined to solanaceous plants for food, and is the cause 

 of "pimply" potatoes. When this trouble attracted attention 

 in New York in 1894, potato buyers were on the lookout for 

 potatoes so affected, offering a reduced price for them. Fre- 

 quently such sold for five cents a bushel below the regular 

 market price. The so-called "pimples" were accompanied by 



