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BUGS, INSECTS, ETC.— REMEDIES FOR. 



WESTERN POTATO BUG, Colorado 

 bug, or ten-lined spearman, has been 

 very injurious to the potato crops during 

 the last few years in the Western States. 

 It appears to be rapidly spreading to- 

 wards the East, the rate of progress east- 

 ward assumed to be about fifty miles a 



year. The habits of the western potato 

 beetle are as follows : The eggs are de- 

 posited by the female, to the number of 

 about seven hundred, at intervals during 

 forty days, on the leaves of the potato, 

 in somewhat regularly arranged loose 

 clusters. After the lapse of about six 



Fig. 2i. — Colorado Potato-Beetle. 



■• 

 Colorado Potato-Beetle: a, a eggs; b, b, b, larvae of different sizes; c, pu- 

 pa; d, d, beetle ; e, left wing-coyer magnified to show lines and punctures ; 

 f, leg, enlarged, Colors of egg, orangl ; of larvae, Venitian-red ; of 

 beetle, black and yellow. 



'days they hatch into larva;, which feed 

 upon the foliage of the plant about sev- 

 enteen days; they then descend to the 

 ground, where they change into pupae at 

 the surface of the earth. The perfect 

 beetle appears about ten to fourteen days 

 after the pupa; is formed, begins to pair 

 in about seven days, and on the four- 

 teenth day commences to deposit her 

 •eggs, thus requiring about fifty days from 

 egg to egg again. This period may, 

 however, vary somewhat according to 

 the state of the weather, and the abun- 

 dance or paucity of food when in the 

 larva state. There is another insect al- 

 most exactly similar in color, size, and 

 form to this potato beetle, found in the 

 Middle and Southern States, which is men- 

 tioned in Melsheimer's catalogue as a 

 synonym under he name of Doryphora. 

 This insect merely differs from the decim 

 iineata by having the second and third 

 stripes always united behind, and the 

 edges of all the stripes with a single row 

 of punctures ; the legs also have a black 

 spot in the middle of all the thighs. 

 This insect (the D. juncta) we found in 



South Carolina upon the horse nettle, and 

 several specimens in Alabama, where 

 they fed upon potatoes and egg plants, 

 being reported as especially injurious to 

 the latter. 



Fig. 22.— Bogus Colorado Potato-Beetle. 



a > eggs, b, b, larva, c, Beetle, d, left wing- 

 cover enlarged, retaining marks and punctures ; 

 e, leg enlarged; colors of egg, pale yellow; of 

 larva, cream yellow ; of beetle, black, yellow 

 and brown. 



A remedy we propose is " a weak lime 

 sprinkled over the plants between sun- 

 down and dark, three applications to be 

 made at different times," and adds in a 

 postscript, " this remedy was tried in the 

 year 1867, and proved effectual." *If 

 brine is used, however, great care should 



