THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 97 



THE COLORADO POTATO BEETLE AGAIN. 



THE BEST MEANS OF FIGHTING IT — A WORD TO OUR CANADIAN NEIGHBORS. 



To give some idea of the onward march of this destructive insect, 

 and to lay before the reader the experience that has been gained since 

 the publication of my first Report, I transmit the following article 

 from the American Entomologist of last September. 



Last July, while spending a few days in Ontario, we ascertained 

 that this most destructive insect had just invaded the Dominion at 

 two different points, namely, near Point Edward, at the extreme south 

 of Lake Huron, and opposite Detroit, near Windsor, at the south- 

 western corner of Lake St. Clair. These are precisely the two points 

 at which we should naturally expect to first meet with it on the Can- 

 adian border; for all such beetles as fly into either of the lakes from 

 the Michigan side would naturally be drifted to these points. As we 

 know from experience, many insects that are either quite rare, or en- 

 tirety unknown on the western side of Lake Michigan, are frequently 

 washed up along the Lake shore at Chicago; and these are so often 

 alive and in good condition, and so often in great numbers, that the 

 Lake shore is considered excellent collecting ground by entomol- 

 ogists. In like manner grasshoppers are often washed up on the 

 shores of Salt Lake, in Utah, in such countless numbers that the stench 

 from their decomposing bodies pollutes the atmosphere for miles 

 around. We have not the least doubt, therefore, in view of these 

 facts, that the Colorado Potato Beetle could survive a sufficient 

 length of time to be drifted alive to Point Edward, if driven into Lake 

 Huron anywhere within twenty or thirty miles of that place, or if 

 beaten down anywhere within the same distance while attempting to 

 cross the lake.* 



How truly is Mr. Walsh's prophecy being fulfilled, that the north- 

 ern columns of this great army would spread far more rapidly than 

 the lagging southern columns. f 



Now, what will our Canadian brethren do? Will they stand by 

 and listlessly see this pernicious insect spread over their territory 

 like a devouring flame, as it has done over the Western and Central 

 States ; or will they make some determined and united effort to pre- 

 vent such a catastrophe ? Of one thing our friends across the border 

 may rest assured — they have not here a sham and braggart Fenian 

 army to deal with, but an army which knows no retreat, and whose 



*The following item which was clipped from the St. Joseph (Mich.) Herald, after the above 

 was written, attests the accuracy of the inference :— "Whoever has walked on this shore of Lake 

 Michigan has observed large numbers of the Colorado potato beetle, crawling from the water. 

 Many have doubted the source whence they came. It would seem from the following that they fly, 

 and swim from the western shore of Lake Michigan. Capt. John Boyne of the Lizzie Doak, re- 

 ports finding his deck and sails infested with potato bugs when half way from Chicago to St.. 

 Joseph at night. Not a bug was on deck when the schooner left Chicago." 



f Practical Entomologist, I, p. 14. 



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