INJURIOUS AND BENEFICIAL INSECTS ( »P CALIFORNIA. 



283 



damage. As the plants become older and the leaves tougher the dam- 

 age may be outgrown. The eggs are laid around the base of the plants 

 and the larva? feed upon the 

 roots, where they do some 

 damage. Rarely they also 

 feed upon the leaves. There 

 are two or three broods a 

 year. 



Nature of Work. - The 

 adults eat very small holes in 

 the tissues of the leaves. If 

 very abundant, only the skele- 

 tons, consisting of the largest 

 veins, remain. Young plants 

 may be entirely destroyed 

 when they first come up by 

 their attacks. The larva? feed 

 somewhat upon the roots of 

 cultivated plants, but mostly 

 upon weeds. 



Distribution.— The species 

 has often been reported from 

 the State, but evidently does 

 not exist here at all, being 

 replaced by a closely related 

 species, Phyllotreta ramosa 

 Crotch. 



Food Plants. — All the 

 members of the family Cruei- 

 ferce, including cabbage, rad- 

 ish, mustard, turnip, stocks, 

 wall flower, water-cress, etc., 

 are attacked by this beetle. 



Control.— For control measures see same under the potato flea 

 beetle, Epitrix cucumeris Horn. 



Fig. 276. — The Western striped flea-beetle, 

 Phyllotreta ramosa Cr. Adult, greatly enlarged. 

 (Original) 



THE FRUIT-TREE LEAF SYNETA 

 Syneta albida Leconte 198 



(Fig. 277) 



Description. — The adult female is very light, almost white, faintly 

 tinted with amber and the eyes are very dark brown. The male is 

 much darker, with the head, prothorax and a stripe down the middle 

 of the elytra almost or entirely black. The tips of the antennae are 

 also dark. The inner margins of the wing covers are distinctly raised, 

 this raised portion being dark in the males. The surface is also finely 

 punctured. The average length is £ inch. 



'"A more abundant species in the State, according to Dr. E. C. Van Dyke, is Syneta 

 simplex Lee, which works upon oak trees. This is about the same size as the above, 

 but is uniformly amber-brown throughout with dark eyes. The inner margins of the 

 wing covers are raised, but more feeblv than in 8. albida. A variety of 8. Simplex 

 which is of the same color but considerably smaller, averaging about 3-16 inch long, 

 is also very common in California and is usually the most injurious to fruit trees. 



