212 HANDBOOK OF NATURE STUDY 



to Florida, and from the Atlantic coast to the Eocky 

 Mountains. 



Remedies. All kinds of rubbish should be burned in the 

 fall, after the bugs have taken up their winter quarters. 

 In cool and wet summers the bugs do not thrive, but are 

 apt to be very numerous under reversed conditions. 



For more detailed information, see your State Reports and Bulletin 

 No. 17 of the U. S. Department of Agriculture, by L. O. Howard. 

 For insects injurious in your vicinity, correspond with your state 

 entomologist, and see his reports. 



34. The Potato Beetle. Doryphora decemlineata. 

 MATERIAL : Beetles, larvae, eggs; all on potato leaves in a bottle; 

 pupse ; defoliated potato stalks. 



History. This insect, often called in books the Colorado 

 Potato Beetle, had its original home near the foothills of 

 the Rocky Mountains in the region of Colorado. Here it 

 fed on a wild plant of the nightshade family, to which also 

 the potato and tomato belong. When the railroad reached 

 that region and settlements sprang up, the beetle discov- 

 ered the potato plant, found the leaves very much to its 

 taste, and soon acquired the habit of feeding on them. 

 About 1859 it had become a pest in its native home, and 

 began its march eastward across the continent, at first 

 advancing about fifty miles a year, but more rapidly later ; 

 and in 1874 it had reached the Atlantic coast. A few years 

 ago it was even accidentally introduced into southwestern 

 Germany ; but, thanks to the radical and scientific measures 

 adopted against it, its complete extermination was soon 

 accomplished. Why were European insect pests not exter- 

 minated in this country ? 



Description. Every farmer knows the beetle, or bug, 

 and you can easily describe the different stages from the 

 material before you. 



Observations. Different soils: loarn, sand, clay, humus. 



