AN OLD ENEMY OF THE POTATO 



By J. C. Chapais, St. Denis, Que. 



SUMMARY— The Meloidae.— Classification. — Genera of Meloidae 

 which are noxious to the Potato.^The Ash Gray Colored Blister Beetle.— 

 The Black Blister Beetle. — The Gray Blister Beetle. — Concerning the 

 Meloidae. — Best ways to fight against the Meloidae. — Reasons that have 

 led to the writing of this Paper. 



The Meloidae. Those of my hearers who are young will pro- 



babl}' think while reading the title of the present paper that I am go- 

 ing to speak of the Doryphora decern -lineata which they ought to consid- 

 er an old enemy of the potato, as it came into our province in 1876 after 

 having invaded Ontario in 1870 It is not, ho\vever, the one about 

 which I am going to speak, for the enemy against \vhich I am going to 

 wage war to-day is more ancient than that, and had grappled with the 

 potato a long time before the chrysomela, I am going to denounce the 

 depredations comimittee, now and then, by the name of the Meloidae, a 

 family of Coleopterous insects, of which many species are found, as will 

 be mentioned belo\v, three proving to be noxious in our province. 



Classification. I will first begin by giving a description of 

 the insects which form the subject of the paper I now present to my 

 hearers, and sho\v what they are fromi the vievt^point of the science of en- 

 tomology. The various species of these insects belong to the family of the 

 Meloidae, the order of the COLEOPTERA Heteromera, the class of 

 Insects and the phylum of the Arthropoda. 



The genera Meloe, Macrobasis, Epicauta and Pomphopoea of that fam- 

 ily are said by Gibson to contain sixteen species in North America. 



Genera of Meloidae which are noxious to the Potato. Of these 

 sixteen species of insects of the Meloidae family, three on- 

 ly are kno\vn as being noxious to the potato. Before speaking of each one 

 of them individually, I ^vill first indicate the characteristics common to 

 all the insects of the Meloidae family. 



Meloidae. Head strongly bent, bluntly- narrowed into a neck 

 disengaged from the prothorax; Antennae composed of 11 joints inserted 

 in the sides of the forehead before the eyes; PROTHORAX narrower 

 than the EIvYTRA Avithout any lateral sutures, its cotyloid cavities 

 large, confluent, opened; Elytra generally flexible without well dis- 

 tinct Epipleurae; abdomen with 6 free segments; Legs long, the 4 

 fore-hips large, conical, contiguous; The hind-hips transverse, prom.inent, 

 almost contiguous: Tarsi, the fore- ones with 5 joints, the hind ones 

 with 4 CI.AWS cleft or toothed at the base ( Prov. ) . 



