TWO GRAPE INSECTS. 



GRAPE FLEA BEETLE. 



Haltica chah'hca 111. 



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Fig. 70. Larva, pupa and imago, with egg of Grape-viiio Flea Beetle. (Original. 



Tliis little beetle is common enough in this state, affecting, how- 

 ever, the wild grape in preference to cultivated varieties. The writer 

 has the end of his porch at Lake Minnetonka covered with wild grape, 

 which he has purposely allowed to be attacked by this pest. For two 

 seasons, as long as the present owner has been in possession, the leaves 

 of the wild vine have been riddled, while a dozen specimens of cul- 

 tivated varieties not forty feet away are untouched. It is possible that 

 the custom of covering cultivated grapes with soil in the late fall Is, 

 in part at least, the cause of their immunity. 



The Grape Flea Beetle is about one-eighth of an inch long, steel 

 blue, or purplish blue or greenish, and feeds in both the adult and lar- 

 val stages on the grape leaf, frequently beginning its destructive work 

 when the vine is in bud. It lays clusters of yellow eggs on the under 

 side of the leaf, which shortly hatch into darkish colored larvce, feed- 

 ing in. colonies, and filling the leaves with holes. 



It takes almost three weeks for the larva to become full grown, 

 at which time it is about one-third of an inch long, with a black head, 

 and with a number of shining black dots on each segment of the body. 

 When full grown they burrow a short distance into the soil, the beetle 

 emei-ging in two or three weeks. Like all flea beetles, the thighs of the 

 hind legs are well developed for jumping, and this flea-like habit gives 

 rise to its name. In the fall the adult beetles conceal themselves for 

 the winter under rubbish or in the soil close to the plant affected. 



Remedies : Clean niltivation; alloiving no leaves or other rubbish 

 to remain near the vines. Cultivation of the soil about the plants.' 

 Spraying of leaves zcith arsenicals. Bordeaux mixture is said to act 

 as an effective repellant. 



