u 



THE PRACTICAL ENTOMOLOGIST. 



field of potatoes a little to the south of Chicago; and 

 that even so early as 1865 a few specimens were 

 caught in that vicinity. 



Hence, if we assume that it was the column that, 

 as I have shown, crossed the Mississippi at War- 

 saw in 1H64, that marched npon Champaign Coun- 

 ty, it must have travelled about 150 miles in two 

 years, or at the average rate of 75 miles a year, in- 

 stead of 5U miles a year, as, to be on the safe side, 

 I had originally calculated. But the probability 

 is, that the insect really crossed the river in 1863 

 in very small numbers, so as not to be noticed by 

 farmers, a few specimens accidentally lighting up- 

 on wagons about to be ferried over into Illinois, 

 and thus effecting their passage without wetting 

 their wings. Some few also might have been blown 

 into the river by a westerly wind, and carried over 

 to the Illinois shore by the same cause. For, like 

 almost all insects, they will come to life again after 

 a very long immersion in water. Still, it must be 

 evident that, to ascertain the rate at which the in- 

 sect really marches, we ought only to take into the 

 account its first occurrence in noticeable numbers 

 at any given point. On the whole, we might say, 

 in military phrase, that they are marching through 

 Illinois in many separate columns, just as Sliernian 

 marched to the sea, but always "refusing the right 

 flank." They do not appear to have as yet invaded 

 Egypt or the extreme south point of Illinois, the 

 southern columns of the Grand Army lagging far 

 behind the northern columns. In Missouri, jMr. 

 Huron Burt says, that they made their appcaranco 

 in Calloway County, which is about 80 miles west 

 of St. Louis, in 1865 ; (Colman's Rural World, 

 Sept. 15, 1866;) and Mr. Carew Sanders says that 

 he himself observed them for the first time near 

 St. Louis in 1866. {Ihid. Sept. 1, 1866.) They 

 are also recorded as having appeared "in great 

 numbers," and so as to be very destructive, in 18G6, 

 at Hannibal, Mo., a town which lies on the Missis- 

 sippi, over 100 miles above St. Louis. {N. Y. Sem. 

 Tribune, August 10, 1866.) Hence, we may infer 

 that they must have infested that point in smaller 

 numbers in 1865; for uniformly, wherever this in- 

 sect has prevailed, the second year's crop of them 

 has been much larger and more generally destruc- 

 tive than the first year's crop. As to the State of 

 Iowa, we may consider it as fully subjugated, pos- 

 sessed and occupied by the enemy ; and as that 

 enemy first invaded it in 1861, and has never hith- 

 erto, so far as I can find out, given up a single post 

 that he has once occupied, we may reasonably in- 

 fer that he will pursue the same course in other 

 subjugated States; and that our remotest descend- 

 ants will continue for all time to suffer from his ra- 

 vages. Of course, as with all Noxious Insects, the 

 Colorado bug will be worse some years than others, 

 from the complex and varied operation of the vari- 

 ous insect foes that prey upon it, and of the other 

 insect foes that prey upon these last, wheel within 

 wheel, check upon check, aud countercheck upon 

 countercheck. But that we shall always have the 

 Colorado Bug in smaller or larger numbers among 

 us, I have no more doubt, than that we shall al- 



ways have more or less thunder-storms every year 

 in the Valley of the Mississippi. With regard to 

 Wisconsin, it appears to have crossed the Mississip- 

 pi into Grant County, in the South-west corner of 

 the State, but in what year is not specified; ( Wis- 

 coimn Farmer, July, 1866;) and to have also oc- 

 curred at various other points, not far from the 

 southern borders of the State, in 1866. {Ibid, Ju- 

 ly and August, 1866.) As to its occurrence in 

 1865 in Mosinee, Wisconsin, (which is in Marathon 

 County, towards the middle of the northern borders 

 of the State,) as referred to in my former article, 

 the fact needs further confirmation. Possibly Mr. 

 Priest mistook the old Potato Bug for the new one, 

 and when they disappeared from natural causes, 

 supposed that his turkeys had eaten them all up. 



All accounts seem to agree that neither lime, nor 

 ashes, nor any available external application is of 

 the least use in checking the depredations of this 

 insect. The Prairie Farmer says that " Mr. Jones 

 found, after many experiments, that neither hot 

 lime, lime-water, brine, tobacco- water, wine(?) nor 

 sulphur had any effect on them; that turpentine, 

 benzine and kerosene would kill them when copi- 

 ously applied, but aho killed the potatoes," and 

 that "coal-oil mixed with water is ineffectual." 

 {Prairie Farmer, June 30, 1866.) Although there 

 is some contradictory evidence, yet the general re- 

 sult of all the testimony is, that neither domestic 

 fowls, nor ducks, nor turkeys will eat them, at all 

 events to any very extensive amount. Indeed 

 they appear to be, to a certain extent, poison- 

 ous, at least to the human species. For I was in- 

 formed by a very trustworthy gentleman at the 

 State Fair, that a whole family were taken sick in 

 consequence of using water, in which only three of 

 the insects had been accidentally boiled ; and that 

 his own wife, after scalding a pailful of them and 

 inhaling the fumes from their bodies, was prostrat- 

 ed by a severe illness which confined her to her 

 bed for several days. Be this as it may, it is well 

 known to Botanists, that the family of plants upon 

 which this insect exclusively feeds, contains many 

 genera of a more or less poisonous nature (Night- 

 shade, Henbane, Tobacco, &c.), and it was long ago 

 asserted that the water in which potatoes are boil- 

 ed is unwholesome. Hence, for those who grow 

 potatoes in a small way, we are thrown back upon 

 that most universal and infallible of all remedies 

 against our Insect Foes — hand-picking, whether in 

 the egg, larva or perfect state, and brushing them into 

 pans. But even this remedy, in eases where one's 

 neighbors grow potatoes and allow the insect to in- 

 crease and multiply without let or impediment, 

 sometimes becomes practically unavailable, or in 

 other words "costs more than it comes to." I know 

 of several cases near Kock Island, Illinois, where 

 the owners of potato-patches, after persevering in a 

 course of hand-picking for fully a mouth, finally 

 gave up in despair, because as fast as they killed 

 ^iff their own bugs, a fresh supply from their neigh- 

 bors' potatopatchos kept flying in upon them.' In- 

 deed, so migratory are these insects in their habits, 

 that I have scarcely taken a single walk in any di- 



