198 



DESTRUCTIVE INSECTS. 



their long fast in hibernation, on the opening grape buds, 

 they then lay their yellow eggs in the crevices around the 

 buds. From these eggs hatch small brown grubs which eat 

 irregular holes in the leaves (Fig. 265) in June. These grubs 

 (Fig. 264) go into the ground and transform to the pretty blue 

 beetles in about ten days. The beetles emerge and feed upon 

 various plants during the rest of the season, but lay no eggs 



PIGS. 263, 264. 



The Grape-vine Flea-beetle. 



FIG. 265. 



FIG. 263. Beetle. FIG. 264. Larva. FIG. 265. Beetles and larvae at work on 

 leaves, natural size. Figs. 263 and 264 much enlarged. (U. S. Div. of Ento- 

 mology.) 



for another brood of grubs until the next spring. They hiber- 

 nate in any sheltered place around the vines. 



This serious pest of the grape-growers can be easily con- 

 trolled by the thorough use of a poison spray on the bursting 

 buds in early spring ; use Paris green at the rate of one pound 

 in fifty to seventy-five gallons of water, to which two pounds 

 of freshly slaked lime are added, and be sure not to let the 

 beetles get the start of you in the spring. Or the beetles may 

 be jarred from the buds into pans of kerosene, or on to sheets 

 soaked in kerosene ; the beetles quickly drop when the vine 



