JOO THIRD ANNUAL REPORT OF 



rendered highly improbable. There can be no danger in the use of 

 sound tubers. But the wise and well-informed cultivator will seldom 

 need to have recourse to Paris green, as he will find.it more profitable 

 to use the difFerent preventive measures that have from time to time 

 been recommended in these colums. 



The poison may do harm, however, by being carelessly used, and 

 it is most safely applied when attached to the end of a stick several 

 feet long, and. should not be used where children are likely to play. 



NATURAL CHECKS INCREASING. 



In many parts of the West this insect is being kept in due check by 

 jjig. 41.] ^its cannibal and parasitic enemies, which are still increasing. 

 Thus we learn from many sources that in Iowa and Kansas it 

 is not nearly so injurious as it formerly was, while in some 

 parts of Illinois and Missouri it has also become less trou- 

 blesome. Last year Mr. T. Glover published the fact that 

 the Great Lebia {Lebia grandis, Hentz, Fig. 41) was found 

 devouring its larvae,* and though hitherto considered rare this Lebia 

 has suddely fallen upon it the present year in many parts of Missouri. 

 During a recent trip along the Missouri Bottom we found this canni- 

 bal very abundant in some potato fields belonging to Mr. Wm. Cole- 

 man, where it was actively engaged in destroying both the eggs and 

 larvae of the Potato Beetles. The head, thorax and legs of this canni- 

 bal are yellowish-brown, in high contrast with its dark-blue wing- 

 covers. 



This makes fourteen conspicuous enemies of our Colorado Potato 

 Beetle which we have figured, and a dozen more, mostly of small size 

 and inconspicuous markings, might easily be added to the list. More- 

 over, chickens have learned to relish the eggs, and have even 

 acquired a taste for the young larvae. So we need not wonder that 

 the army is being decimated in those States first invaded by it. 



BOGUS EXPERIMENTS. 



It was recently reported to us that a neighbor had succeeded in 

 driving away all his Potato bugs by strewing Elder branches among 

 the vines. We went to examine the field and found our friend enthu- 

 siastic over his discovery; and indeed though the vines were nearly 

 devoured, there were but a few full grown larvae to be found. But, as 

 he could not tell us what had become of the "slugs," we undertook to 

 show him where they had gone, and after digging a few moments with 

 a trowel, unearthed dozens of them, the majority in the pupa, but a 

 few yet in the larva state. Our neighbor had, in fact, been misled by 

 appearances, for want of better knowledge of his enemy. The larvae 

 as they acquired their growth suddenly became so destructive, that 

 to save his vines he was obliged to try some means of killing them, 



* Dept. of Agr. Rep. 1868, p. 81. 



