108 



twenty thousaiul iippU; scedlinjij.s in New York, and to have destroyed 

 almost the entin^ carrot croj) of two New Jersey counties and forty acres 

 of tomatoes in IMaryland. A large part of the sugar-beet acreage in 

 Illinois was destroy(Ml by them in 1899, necessitat- 

 ing a second, and in some; cases a third, plant- 

 ing. They have been reported destructive to 

 potatoes, cotton, young pear-trees, turnips, melons, 

 radishes, cucumbers, peas, strawberry and black- 

 berry plants, alfalfa, lettuce, parsnij), eggplant, 

 summer savory, sweet potatoes, peanuts, oats, and 

 white clover. They also feed on pigweed, rag- 

 weed, plantain, jiiu'slane, cocklcbur, lamb's-cjuar- 

 ters, nightshade, fleabane, and tlu^ sand-bur. 



Larva3 (Fig. 89) were found by me in iSSd 

 among corn roots, one boring into a sprouting 

 kernel.* They were fed on sprouting corn, and 

 thus reared to the adult. The United States 

 Entomologist found the larvte at roots of lamb's- 

 quarters, and apparently also at those of James- 

 town weed. They are about a fourth of an inch 

 long, slender, pale yellowish, broadening from the 

 head to near the ])osterior end, which terminates 

 in a bhmt process with a crown of short spines 

 and four stiff hairs. 



The beetle has never yet occurred in any of 

 our winter collections. Larvae taken May 17 

 became beetles a month later, and those collected 

 July 11 and 12 yielded adults on the 22d and 'I'M 

 of that month. The beetles became alMuidant 

 antl destructive rather abruptly about the niiddh^ 

 of June, contimied thus throughout July, and tinally vanished in 

 Se[)tember. l''ggs were laid by the beetles at Washington June 10 

 to July S, singly or in very small batches on l(>av(>s of plants in their 

 br(>e(ling-cag(\ l^'rom the facts now on record it would seem most likely 

 that larval hilxM'nation is the rule, that the beetles api)earing in .luiie 

 and .luly ha\'(^ I'ecently transformed, and that the inidsunuucM' eggs give 

 origin to the larva' which pass the winter in the earth. The species 

 I'anges from the Atlantic to the Pacific, but i)robably does not reach 

 south to the (iiilf. It is appnreiitly most deslructi\e in the latitud(> of 

 Illinois. 



Via. 89. T li e P a 1 e - 

 striped Flea-beetle. Sj/s- 

 tt'Hd hlanda, larva. l.cnKth 

 about one ([iiarter inch. 



♦Eighteenth Rep. State Knt. 111., p. 21. 



