INSECTS INJURIOUS TO POTATO, ETC. 219 



"slivers," and it was some time before it was ascertained that 

 they were due to the slender white grubs of this flea-beetle. 

 Eggplant, tobacco and tomato are affected less as a rulfe than 

 potato, but the beetles also attack plants of other orders, inclu- 

 ding beets, cabbage, turnip, cucumber, celery and sweet potato. 

 Sometimes they do injury to potatoes by gnawing the sprouts. 

 Eggs are deposited in May or June, and the life cycle is very 

 like that of the tobacco flea-beetle about to be described. Larvae 

 feed entirely under ground and transform to pupae there. 



Treatment. — The usual flea-beetle remedies are applicable. 

 See page 65. 



The Eggplant Flea-beetle (Epitrix fuscula Cr.).— The egg- 

 plant flea-beetle so nearly resembles the preceding that unless 

 the two occur on the same plant they are apt to be confounded. 

 It is of the same color, but considerably larger than the potato 

 flea-beetle, and when closely examined it is at once seen that 

 the impression at the base of the thorax is very feeble and 

 that the wing-covers are more pubescent. 



This species is most abundant on eggplant, but it is common 

 on potato, horse nettle and similar wild plants. In Maryland, 

 Virginia and the District of Columbia it is often difficult to 

 find the foliage of eggplant that has not been very profusely 

 punctured by the minute holes where the beetle has been feed- 

 ing. Some little time after attack these holes become browner 

 on the edges, and this portion at last dries, making the holes 

 much larger and giving the plants a decidedly sickly appearance. 

 It even attacks eggplant in frames. This species is obviously 

 southern, not extending in the East, so far as known, north 

 of New Jersey. It occurs in the Gulf region and in southern 

 Ohio and Illinois, and in intermediate States southward. 



Remedies. — The same as those employed against other flea- 

 beetles. 



The Tobacco Flea-beetle {Epitrix parvula Fab.). — This 

 species is most important as an enemy of tobacco, and like 



