INSECTS INJURIOUS TO BEETS AND SPINACH 



307 



The Beet Leafhopper * 



Very serious loss to the sugar-beet industry has occurred in 

 Colorado, California and Utah from a condition known as " curly 

 leaf " or " blight." Investigations made by Professor E. D. Ball 

 have shown that the " curly leaf " is undoubtedly caused by the 

 presence of immense numbers of small leaf hoppers, from 10 to 100 

 often being found on a plant in badly infested fields. The curly 

 leaf condition does not seem to result, however, except when the 



FIG. 259. The sugarbeet leafhopper (Eutettix tenella Baker): a, adult; 

 6, nymph; /, eggs greatly enlarged; g, section of 'oeet stem showing 

 fresh eggs in place; h, same showing eggs ready to hatch; i, old egg 

 scars on beet stems; j, small leaf of sugar beet showing characteristic 

 "curly-leaf" condition; k, enlarged section of back of an extreme case 

 of curly-leaf showing warty condition of veins. (After Ball, U. S. Dept. 

 Agr.) 



soil has become dry and heated, and where plants are shaded or 

 irrigated the damage by the leafhoppers does not seem to produce 



* Eutettix tenella Baker. See E. D. Ball, Bulletin 66, Part IV, Bureau 

 of Entomology, U. S. Dept. Agr., and Bulletin 155, Utah Exp. Sta. 



