292 



INJURIOUS AND BENEFICIAL INSECTS OF CALIFORNIA. 





Food Plants.— During the year 1913 the beetles were found to be 

 destructive to the foliage of apricot and apple trees by Mr. S. A. Pease 

 in San Bernardino County and to tomato vines and fruit by Mr. A. S. 

 Hoyt in Los Angeles County. 



Control. — Control measures are very difficult. Many of the adults 

 may lie kept from the foliage of fruit trees by tanglefoot bands, as they 

 usually climb up the trunk, but in a garden only a rotation of crops is 

 advised. Poison sprays are of little avail unless applied very strongly, 

 and in such cases are likely to injure the foliage. On the whole the 

 damage rarely warrants the cost of such measures. 



MELOID^ (Family) 



BLISTER BEETLES 



The bodies of the blister beetles are comparatively soft and the wing 

 covers are also soft and flexible; the head is as wide as the prothorax 

 and attached by a visible neck; the tarsi of the front and middle legs 

 are five-jointed and those of the hind legs are four-jointed. The colors 

 are usually dark with a shining iridescence. The adults are often found 

 feeding on foliage and flowers and thus are frequently orchard and 

 garden pests. The common name is derived from the pulverized powder 

 obtained by drying the bodies of the beetles and used for making blister- 

 plasters. The transformation of a few of these beetles is remarkable 

 in that more than three stages of metamorphosis are involved. The 

 larva 1 pass through four distinct stages before the pupal, and then the 

 adult stages are reached. This phenomenon is called hypermetamor- 

 phosis. 



THE SPOTTED BLISTER BEETLE 

 Epicauta maculata Say 



(Fig. 287) 



Description. — The ground color of the beetles is black, but the 

 dorsum is clothed with numerous fine tufts of light hairs, giving a gray 

 spotted appearance. The average length is about 

 | inch. 



Life History. — Nothing is recorded relative to 

 the life history of this beetle, other than that it 

 often becomes very abundant and quite destruc- 

 tive during the late spring and early summer of 

 some years. 



Nature of Work. — The adults attack the 

 leaves, eating holes into the tissues or around the 

 edges. 



Distribution. — The beetle occurs in the arid 

 districts in the southeastern part of the State and 

 in Modoc County. 



Food Plants. — Clover, potato and sugar beet 



Pig. 2 87. — The spotted 

 blister beetle, Epicauta 

 maculata Say. Adult en- 

 larged twice. (After are known host plants, but attacks are probably 



Chittenden 

 Agric. ) 



U. S. Dept. 



extended to many other plants. 

 Control. — The application of neutral arsenate of lead, 2 pounds to 

 50 gallons of water, should be used if the beetles become serious pests. 



