90 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



ton, that eggs and beetles were found on the vines the 20th 

 of July, 1875. Beetles were seen at Lowell in August, 1875. 

 It appears from these facts that the beetles must have been 

 introduced along lines of railway in different portions of 

 Massachusetts in 1874. 



When I visited these fields during the last of September, 

 1875, thousands of the larvae in different stages of growth 

 were to be seen on the vines. The present year (187G), the 

 potato-fields in the neighborhood of Amherst were overrun 

 with them soon after the plants came up, and in September, I 

 saw the beetles everywhere. In 1877, the yield of potatoes will 

 be undoubtedly very light, and potatoes high priced. During 

 the autumn of 1876, they were said to be unusually high. 



Essex County, Mass., was overrun with the beetles during 

 the present year. They first attracted attention during the 

 first week in June. 



In 1875, it appeared in the western part of Vermont, and 

 during the summer of 1876, has been reported as more or 

 less abundant in various parts of the State. In 1875, it 

 appeared for the first time in New Hampshire. In 1866, Mr. 

 Walsh predicted that it would reach Maine "in ten or twelve 

 years." His prediction has proved to be a true one. In 

 Maine, according to Prof. C. H. Fernald, it was first seen in 

 1875, and occurred not, so far as I can learn, on the south- 

 western border of the State, but in the central portion, and 

 this leads me to think that its appearance there, as well as in 

 New England generally, has been accelerated by its transpor- 

 tation on freight cars, which have been sent through from 

 different points in the West. It is a well-determined fact, that 

 the d illusion of noxious insects over the United States is 

 greatly promoted by railways and "through" freight cars, as 

 permanent tracks are thus made through forests and across 

 rivers, the natural barriers of insect life. 



HABITS. 



The habits of the Colorado potato-beetle are apparently the 

 same in New England as in Illinois or Missouri, where it has 

 been watched and studied for more than a dozen years. The 

 following account is based on the observations of Messrs. Walsh, 

 Shimer, Riley, Le Barron, and myself. The beetle having 



