ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND FACTS FOR THE PEOPLE. 387 



THE GRAPE-VINE FLEA-BEETLE.— 



The Grape- Vine Flea-Beetle (Fig. 31, d,) 

 ■often goes by the cognomen of "Steel-Blue 

 Beetle," and is even dubbed "Thrips" by 

 some vineyardists. The latter term, how- 

 ever, is entirely inapplicable. The former 

 .name is not sufficiently characteristic, be- 



Fig. 31. 

 •C&use the color varies from steel-blue to 

 metallic green and purple, and because 

 there are many other flea-beetles to which 

 it would equally apply. 



The Grape- Vine Flea-Beetle is found in 

 all parts of the United States and in the 

 Canadas, and it habitually feeds on the 

 Alder as well as upon the wild and cul- 

 tivated grape-vine. 



They are generally found on the up- 

 per surface of the leaf, which they so 

 riddle and devour as to give it the ap- 

 pearance represented in Figure 31, a. 



Remedy. — The larva can be more 

 easily destroyed by an application of 

 dry lime, used with a common sand- 

 blower or bellows. This has been found 

 to be more effectual than either lye or 

 soap-suds, and is withal the safest, as lye, 

 if used to strong, will injure the leaves. 



TOBACCO WORM. — The tobacco 

 hawk-moth, or "horn-blower" of Mary- 

 land, is a large moth, the caterpillar of 

 which, commonly known as the tobacco 

 worm in the Middle States, is very des- 

 tructive to the leaf of the tobacco plant, 

 when the worm is young, by eating holes 

 in the leaves, thus spoiling them for use 

 as wrappers for cigars, and when old by 



devouring the whole of the leaf itself. 

 These worms appear of all sizes, during 

 late summer and autumn, in the tobacco 

 fields in Maryland, the first brood of eggs 

 hatching in May or June. The egg is de- 

 posited singly on the leaf of the tobacco 

 or tomato plant, and the young worm, 

 when first hatched out by the heat of the 

 sun, commences to eat holes in the leaf of 

 the plant, and sheds its skin several times 

 before attainfhg its full size ; it then goes 

 into the earth, and the pupae is formed in 

 a subterranean cell, the late broods re- 

 maining as pupae all winter, and coming 

 out as the perfect fly the following spring. 

 The insect appears from June and July 

 until late fall. It hovers in the twilight 

 like a humming bird over flowers, es- 

 pecially honeysuckle and Jamestown 

 weed, sucking the nectar by means of its 

 long, flexible tongue, which, when the in- 

 sect is at rest, is coiled up like a watch- 

 spring under the head. The tongue when 

 unrolled measures four to six inches in 

 length; and the caterpillar feeds also on 

 the potato, red-pepper and tomato, as 

 well as the tobacco. This insect is al- 

 most exactly like the northern so-called 

 potato- worm in all the states of larva, pupae 

 and insect, and can scarcely be distinguish- 

 ed from it by young entomologists ; but in 

 the "tobacco-worm" the anal horn on the 

 tail of the caterpillar is reddish instead of 

 bluish ; it also has no longitudinal white 

 stripe, the pectoral feet are ringed with 

 black, the body is more hirsute, and the 

 insect itself is more indistinctly marked, 

 and always has a white mark at the base of 

 its wings and partly on the thorax, which 

 the moth of the potato-worm has not. 



The potato-worm is also found feeding 

 on the tobacco in Maryland, and frequently 

 a black or nearly black variety of the 

 worm is taken, especially towards the end 

 of the season. The potato or tomato 

 worm has also been accused of being poi- 

 sonous, but this is entirely erroneous, as the 

 horn on the tail of the caterpillar is inca- 

 pable of inflicting any serious wound, and 

 has no poisonous properties whatever. 

 The potato-worm is the northern species, 

 and in Maryland the two species meet, and 

 and are found indiscriminately together in 

 the tobacco fields, yet never mixing, but 

 remainining perfectly distinct, although so 

 nearly allied in appearance, habits and 

 food. 



