26 



THE IMMACULATE BLISTER BEETLE. 



{ MucrobaHw immaculuta Say.) 



As with some of the following species, this insect, although com- 

 mon, has not been nmch studied; but we know of its having injured 

 beets in Kansas as early as 1897, and during 1902 it was destructive 

 to sugar beet in Colorado. Among other food plants are potato, tomato, 

 and cabbage. It is one of our largest blister beetles, and is gray or 

 yellow in color. 



THE TWO-SPOTTED BLISTER BEETLE. 



{MacrohnKis ulhkla Say.) 



During 1902 this blister beetle Avas destructive in Indian Territory, 



in one case devouring a field of 

 sugar beets in a single day. Al- 

 though an extremely common spe- 

 cies from Kansas to Texas and 

 New Mexico, little has been pub- 

 lished in regard to its habits until 

 very recently' . Like others of its 

 kind it favors vegetable crops, 

 which include tomato, potato, and 

 some others. It is evidently an 

 old 1)eet enemy, as we have record 

 of its being very injurious to this 

 crop in Kansas a decade earlier 

 than the case reported. 



This is also a large species (fig. 

 21), gray or j-ellowish in color, 

 with the thorax marked with two 

 nearly parallel lines. It measures 

 about an ijich or an inch and a half in length. 



THE SEGMENTED BLACK BLISTER BEETLE. 



[Macrohash .<<egmentata Say. ) 



Injur}' by this blister beetle to beets was reported to this ofiice in 

 1897, when a considerable proportion of crops of beets, as well as 

 potato, tomato, and cabbage, was being destroyed in Kansas, the beetles 

 being described as coming in large swarms, settling down in fields, 

 and devouring and ruining crops in a few hours. It is one of the 

 larger species of the group, sometimes attaining a length of about an 

 inch. It is of robust form, uniformly dull black, except for an occa- 

 sional narrow fringe of cinereous hairs on the base or apex of the 

 thorax. Its range extends from Kansas well into Mexico. 



Fig. 21. — Macrobasis albida: twice natural size 

 (original, Division of Entomology). 



