4 Farmers’ Bulletin 1193. 
The egg (fig. 1, 0) is rounded, oval, pale orange-yellow when first 
laid, changing to dull brownish gray, convex above, flattened on the 
lower side where attached to a leaf, 
and the surface is minutely pitted. 
Eggs are deposited usually on end in 
irregular clusters, sometimes in lay- 
ers, varying in number from 2 to 50 on 
either the upper or lower surface of 
leaves of beets and other food plants. 
The larva, when mature, is dark olive 
brown, spotted with pale yellow tu- 
bercles arranged in rows. (See fig. 
2.) The head is shiny black, as are 
portions of the legs, which are rather 
long and slender. The length is 
<< about three-sixteenths of an inch. 
Fic. 2.—Beet leaf-beetle: Dorsal The pupa (fig. 3) is nearly twice 
one aE i ee ie view as long as wide, pale yellow, the head 
prominent, bent downward with the 
legs folded, as shown in the illustration. The length is from one- 
fourth to five-sixteenths of an inch. 
DISTRIBUTION. 
The beet leaf-beetle occurs along the Atlantic 
Seaboard from Massachusetts to Florida, in Cali- 
fornia near the seacoast, and in the alkaline 
regions of Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, Arizona, 
Idaho, and Montana. In its eastern occurrence 
it is maritime and not injurious. It also occurs 
in portions of Kansas and Texas. See map 
(fig. 4). 
A wah VOr TT cere Rr 
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4 
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FOOD PLANTS. 
lig. 3.— Beet leaf- 
The adults feed on sugar beets (figs. 5, A, B, beetle: Pupa much 
enlarged. 
and 6), garden or table beets, mangelwurzel, 
Swiss chard, and spinach; on lamb’s-quarters (fig. 5,C), sea-blite (fig. 
5, D), Russian thistle, saltwort, saltbush, sea-purslane, and pigweed.® 
The larvee are more restricted in their diet, feeding on sea-blite, 
lamb’s-quarters, Russian thistle, and sugar beet only, so far as ob- 
served. Eggs are often deposited on other plants, but the larve have 
not been observed to develop on them. 
2The innoxious maritime forms occurring along the Atlantic and Pacific coasts may be 
distinet geographical races. 
Amaranthus retrofiexus, 
