INSECTS INJURIOUS TO MISCELLANEOUS CROPS 369 



The Carrot-beetle * 



The Carrot-beetle is a native species which has been particu- 

 larly injurious to carrots along the Atlantic Coast from Long 

 Island through the Gulf States. The species occurs, however, 

 very generally throughout the country as far north as central 

 Indiana, and on the Pacific coast. It has a considerable number 

 of food-plants; in Louisiana and Mississippi it has injured the corn 

 crop, the beetles cutting the corn just above the roots; in Illinois 

 the beetles injured sunflowers 

 and sweet potatoes; in Indiana 

 they attacked carrots, celery and 

 and parsnips; in Texas they 

 have injured potatoes and 

 shrubs and vegetables of various 

 kinds; and in Nebraska they 

 have damaged sugar-beets. 



The damage is done entirely 

 by the adult beetles, which are 

 among the smaller of the May- 

 beetles or June-bugs, measure 

 one-half to five-eighths of an 



FIG. 311. The carrot-beetle (Ligyrus 

 gibbosus DeG.) much enlarged. 

 (After Forbes.) 



inch long, and are from reddish- 

 brown to nearly black in color. 

 The beetles gouge into the roots or stems just below the surface 

 of the soil, often ruining the root for market without injuring the 

 top. The injury may occur by hibernated beetles in the spring 

 from April to June or by newly transformed individuals in late 

 summer or autumn. 



The life history has not been studied, but is probably very 

 similar to that of Lachnosterna. 



Control. No very satisfactory means of control have been 

 tried in a practical way. It is stated that lime scattered over 

 infested fields has driven the beetles away. It is evident that 

 after the crop is gathered infested fields should be pastured with 

 hogs, if possible, or plowed deeply, and plowed again in the 

 spring. Evidently further study of the habits of the pest is 

 necessary before satisfactory means of control may be devised. 



* Ligyrus gibbosus DeG. Family Scarabceidoe. See F. H. Chittenden, 

 Bulletin 33, n. s., Div. Ent., U. S. Dept. Agr., p. 32, and W. P. Hayes, Journal 

 EC. Ent. Vol. 10, pp. 253-261, 1919. 



