302 INSECT PESTS OF FARM, GARDEN AND ORCHARD 



themselves into notice by their injuries, and, therefore are now 

 known as the " old-fashioned potato-bugs." The name of 

 " blister-beetles " has been bestowed upon them because of the 

 blistering effect which they have upon the skin, they being nearly 

 related to the Spanish fly, used for that purpose. 



One of the most common of these is the Striped Blister-beetle, 

 which has three yellow stripes upon its. wing-covers, while 

 two other common forms are of a slate-black color. Very often 

 when these beetles congregate in numbers they are a great 

 nuisance, not only in the potato-patch, but upon many other 

 plants of the garden or truck-farm. 



Unfortunately, they present to the farmer a very peculiar 

 problem, for while the beetles are often exceedingly injurious, 

 the larvae are even more beneficial, in eating large quantities of 

 grasshoppers' eggs. 



Life History. The life of these insects is unique. The female 

 lays a large number of eggs in a small cavity in the earth, and 

 from these hatch some small, long-legged larvae, which run about 

 searching for the pod-like masses of grasshoppers' eggs, upon 

 which they feed. As soon as the appetite of one of these little 

 egg-hunters is appeased, he sheds his skin, and now being sur- 

 rounded by food and no longer needing his long legs for running, 

 in the next stage of his existence his legs become very short and 

 rudimentary, and he remains almost immobile while feeding upon 

 the rest of the eggs. 



Control. Spraying with Paris green or arsenate of lead, as 

 advised for the Colorado potato-beetle will kill the beetles, and 

 where the vines have been regularly sprayed but little trouble 

 will be had with them. Where they suddenly appear in large 

 swarms in gardens or on truck land, they are often destroyed by 

 a line of men and children slowly driving them with branches, as 

 the beetles move but slowly. If a ditch is available it may be 

 oiled, and the beetles destroyed like grasshoppers (page 108), or 

 they may be driven into a windrow of straw, hay, or any inflam- 

 mable rubbish and burned in it. 



