HOW TO INCREASK TH K POTATO CROP BY SPRAVINC. 



Fig. 3.— Section of potato plant showing Colorado potato beetle at work: a, Beetle; 6, h, egg 

 half-grown larvae; i, d, mature larvte. Somewhat enlarged. 



The beetles appear early in the spring, and with the first warm days 

 may be seen in flight. As soon as the female can reach suitable 

 plants after feeding she begins to lay her eggs. A single female is 

 capable of producing between 1,800 and 1,900 eggs. Normally all 

 the eggs hatch, and the entire life cycle from egg to egg may be passed 

 in midsummer in a high temperature in five or six weeks. The pos- 

 sible progeny, therefore, is enormous. 



Were it not for the fact that numerous species of insects and 

 animals destroy large numbers of the beetles and "slugs'' annually, 

 the pest would be much more abundant than it is. (See fig. 4.) 

 Setting aside the insects, of which between 30 and 40 species have 

 been observed actually to pr(>y upon this pest, the bobwhito or 

 quail, robin, crow, and several other bii'ds either pick the beetles 



