THE PRACTICAL ENTOMOLOGIST. 



D. juncta — 8 specimens from 1 D. 10-lineata — 50 specimens. 

 Mr. Sonne. 



1. Edges of all the stripes 

 on the wing-cases, except 

 the outer edge of the mar- 

 ginal one, accurately boun- 

 ded by an acute groove, 

 which is regularly punctate 

 with a single row of punc- 

 tures. 



2. The 2d and 3d stripes, 

 counting from the outside, 

 always united behind and 

 generally before also. 



3. Legs rufous.with a black 

 spot on the middle of the 

 front of all the thighs. 



1. The same edges stud- 

 ded with very confused and 

 irregular punctures, espe- 

 cially towards the middle 

 of the wing-case, often in 

 two or three irregular se- 

 ries, and partly inside, part- 

 ly outside the edges. 



2. The 3d and 4th stripes, 

 counting from the outside, 

 almost always united be- 

 hind, only failing to be so 

 united in asingle wing-case 

 of three specimens. In a 

 single wing-case of two spe- 

 cimens the 2d, 3d and 4th 

 stripes are all united be- 

 hind. 



3. Legs rufous, with the 

 knees and feet black. 



Both Germar and Rogers erroneously state, Va3.i juncta 

 has only four stripes on each wing-case. It has, in re- 

 ality, just as many stripes as l^~lincata, though I am in- 

 formed by Dr. LeConte that his Georgia specimens h.ave 

 the outer stripe " indistinctly defined externally." What 

 Say calls "variety a" of W-lineata, found in Arkansas, 

 is apparently from his description nothing but juncta. 



The question whether the species thut destroys 

 potatoes has existed for an indefinitely long time 

 in Illinois, or whether it has within the last few 

 years migrated thither from the Rocky Mountain 

 liegion, may seem to some of merely theoretical 

 interest. It is, however, of great practical impor- 

 tance. On the first supposition, it is not probable 

 that it will travel eastward ; on the second suppo- 

 sition, it will most likely invade Indiana and Ohio 

 within a few years, and finally pass on to the At- 

 lantic-States. 



The new Potato Bug is not what naturalists call 

 a Bug, but a true Beetle, belonging to the Order 

 Coleoptera or Shdlij-ioinrjs, and is rather more than 

 J of an inch long, of so short an oval shape as to 

 be almost as round as a grape, and cream-colored 

 with 10 black lines or stripes placed lengthways on 

 its back. Its wings are rose-colored and present a 

 beautiful appearance as it flies. We may call it in 

 English "the ten-striped Spearman," which is the 

 meaning of the scientific name given to it. The 

 above is the appearance presented by the perfect 

 or winged insect, when its wings are hid under its 

 wing-cases ; but in the larva or immature state, 

 it is a soft, elongate, 6-legged grub, of a dull venc- 

 tian-red color with several black spots, but without 

 any wings of course. There are four or five succes- 

 sive broods of them during the summer, and the 

 larva of each brood goes underground to assume 

 the pup4 state. C. V. R. in the Prairie Farmer 

 of August 8, 1863, who was the first to watch this 

 insect through all its states, says that his specimens 

 " hatched on the 14th of June and came out as 

 perfect insects on the 10th of July, thus being 

 scarcely a month going through all their changes." 

 He confirms the conclu.sion at which I arrived in 

 July, 1862, in the columns of the Valley Farmer, 

 and which has been criticized and disputed by Dr. 

 Fitch, {Trans., &c. p. 798,) namely that the larva 

 always goes underground to transform. 



The insects commonly called "Potato-bugs," that 

 have from time immemorial infested the Potato 

 throughout the United States, are also Beetles like 

 the " 10-striped Spearman," but othervrise are in no 

 wise related to it, being true blistering-beetles, be- 

 longing to the same genus as the common " Span- 

 ish-fly" of the shops, and raising just as good a 

 blister as that does. Of these last there are three 

 distinct species which have been known to attack 

 the Potato, one of a jet-black color, {Lytta atrata,) 

 one of a gray color, {Lytta cinerea,) and one of a 

 yellow color with 4 or 6 black stripes placed length- 

 ways on its back, {Lytta vittata.) Careless obser- 

 vers might confound this last with the " 10-striped 

 Spearman"; but the latter always has ten black 

 stripes on its back, neither more nor less, and the 

 former never has more than six. Besides, the whole 

 shape and structure of the two insects is as difl'er- 

 ent as that of a horse is from that of a hog. There 

 is this essential difierence, likewise, between the ha- 

 bits of the two, that the blistering beetles only feed 

 on the potato in the perfect or winged state, where- 

 as both the larva and the perfect beetle of the " 10- 

 striped Spearman" feed thereon, thereby, of course, 

 injuring the vines to a much greater extent. 



There are several species of lady-birds {Cocci'- 

 nellulx), which destroy the eggs of this insect; and 

 as the eggs laid by many of these lady-birds are of 

 the same shape and color as those of the " 10-striped 

 Spearman," and are scarcely distinguishable but by 

 their smaller size, being attached in the same man- 

 ner to the leaf, care must be taken by those who 

 undertake to destroy the eggs of the Potato-bug, 

 not to confound tho.se of their best friends with 

 those of their bitterest enemies. The eggs of the 

 "Spearman" are yellow, over IGth inch long, cylin- 

 drical, rounded at each end, and more than twice 

 as long as wide, and they are attached by one end 

 in clusters of 20 or 30 to the under surface of the 

 leaf. It appears that in some localities a true Bug, 

 belonging to the Scutellcra family, and similar to 

 the large, stinking bugs often found on raspberries 

 and blackberries, destroys the "Spearman" while 

 it is in the larva state, by puncturing it with its 

 long beak and sucking out its juices. And Mr. 

 Shimer of Carroll Co., 111., finds that it is attacked 

 in the same way, while in the larva state, by another 

 cannibal Bug with its legs beautifully banded with 

 black and white, (the Harpaetor cinctus of Fabri- 

 cius,) of which he has sent me .spccimens^and which 

 I have myself noticed preying on a great variety of 

 other insects. 



Almost the only remedy, hitherto found to be 

 efiectual against the depredations of the " 10-striped 

 Spearman," is hand-picking them either in the egg, 

 larva or perfect state, or shaking the larva; and per- 

 fect beetles off the vines into shallow pans ; for 

 which purpose a tin pan with a lid similar to that, 

 of a common spittoon would probably bo found very 

 convenient, as the insects might, then be shaken 

 through the central hole from time to time, as they 

 fall into the pan, and thereby be prevented from 

 escaping. Dusting lime, ashes &c. upon the vines 

 has been found to be perfectly useless, and both 



