CHAPTER XII 



INSECTS INJURIOUS TO TOBACCO * 

 The Tobacco Flea-beetle f 



THE Tobacco Flea-beetle is one of the important pests of that 

 plant throughout the Middle States, being particularly injurious 



to young plants. The beetles 

 damage the leaves by eating 

 small holes in the upper or un- 

 der surfaces, or clear through 

 them, so that when badly 

 eaten the leaves look as if they 

 had been peppered with shot. 

 The little beetles which do 

 this damage are hardly more 

 \ i than one-twentieth inch long 

 / \I light brown in color, with a 

 dark band across the wing- 

 covers. A few of them could 



FIG 178. Tobacco flea-beetle (Epitrix par- do but little damage, but they 

 vula): a, adult beetle; b, larva lateral 



view; c, head of larva; d, posterior leg soon increase in numbers, so 

 of same; e, anal segment, dorsal view; tna t they swarm over the 

 /, pupa a, o, /, enlarged about fifteen . . 



times; c, d, e, more enlarged. (After leaves and injure them badly. 

 Chittenden, U. S. Dept. Agr.) Similar injury is done to 



potato, egg-plant, and tomato, and the beetles also feed on horse- 

 nettle, nightshade, and Jamestown weed. 



Life History The eggs are laid in the soil and the larvae feed 

 upon the roots of common weeds, such as the nightshade and 

 Jamestown weed. The larva is delicate, thread-like and white, 



* See L. O. Howard, Farmers' Bulletin 120, U. S. Dept. Agr., The Prin- 

 cipal Insects Affecting the Tobacco Plant. A. C. Morgan, Circular 123, 

 Bureau of Entomology, U. S. Dept. Agr.; Yearbook, U. S. Dept, Agr., 1910, 

 pp. 281-296; and Z. P. Metcalf, N. C. Dept. of Agr. Bulletin, Oct., 1909. 



t Epitnx parvida Fab. Family Chrysomdidae. 



212 



