ENTOMOLOGY 147 



Blister Beetles are long, narrow, soft-bodied insects which be- 

 long to the same family and possess the same blistering qualities as 

 the Spanish-fly, which is used by druggists in the preparation of 

 certain plasters. There are three species which may be distinguished 

 by their color; the Black, the Gray and the Spotted; a fourth, the 

 Striped, is occasionally to be found. Of these the Black is the most 

 common and may often be seen feeding harmlessly on the flowers 

 of the Golden-rod. At times these beetles appear in swarms and 

 rapidly devour the foliage of beets, potatoes and a few other plants, 

 and after inflicting a considerable amount of damage suddenly dis- 

 appear. They may be controlled by spraying with Paris green, but 

 this should not be resorted to unless the attack is serious, as their 

 grubs have the very useful habit of feeding upon the eggs of grass- 

 hoppers and may therefore be included amongst the beneficent in- 

 sects. A better remedy, which has been employed with success, con- 

 sists in driving the beetles away from an infested field by a party of 

 men or boys walking hi a line across and waving branches from 

 side to side. The beetles thus disturbed fly ahead, and by following 

 them up may be cleared out entirely ; once they are driven out of a 

 field they seldom return. Spraying with Bordeaux mixture will 

 keep them off the plants, and may be employed if necessary. 



The Beet Leaf -Miner. Blotches may often be seen on the 

 leaves of beets and spinach, which are found on investigation to be 

 caused by a minute maggot which feeds on the green tissue below 

 the skin. The parent insect is a two-winged fly about a quarter of 

 an inch in length, which deposits its eggs on the foliage of these 

 plants ; the maggots when hatched immediately burrow beneath the 

 surface and cannot therefore be reached by any applications. The 

 only method that seems at all available is to pick off and destroy the 

 infested leaves, a laborious plan which can only be adopted where 

 the plants are grown on a small scale. If the attack is serious it 

 would be worth while to adopt this method in order to get rid of the 

 trouble and guard against its repetition. 



Caterpillars. The foliage of beets and spinach is liable to be 

 attacked by some caterpillars, but as a rule they are in small num- 

 bers, widely scattered over the plants and seldom inflict much 

 damage. This does not apply to the extraordinary outbreaks on 

 rare occasions of the Army-worm and the Variegated Cutworm, 

 which devour every green thing that they come to, beets as well as 

 everything else. Among the others referred to may be mentioned 

 the Yellow Woolly-Bear, which is a hairy caterpillar, readily seen 

 from its bright yellow color, and attaining to an inch and a quarter 

 in length when fully grown. It turns into a beautiful snow-white 

 moth, with a few black dots on its wings and rows of black and 

 yellow spots on its body. When feeding they are conspicuous, and 

 may be picked off by hand ; but usually they are beneath the leaves 

 when at rest. If very numerous, Paris Green may be employed. 

 They are general feeders and do not confine themselves by any 

 means to garden vegetables, but attack many kinds of weed? as well 



