INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETABLES 

 WHITE POTATO 



The Colorado potato beetle ^ {Lcptinotarsa lo- 



Uncata) 

 Order — Coleoptera. Manual, p. 576 



Originally on a wild plant (Solanum) of the po- 

 tato family in Colorado ; gradually spread eastward 

 to Nebraska 1859, crossing the Mississippi River 

 in 1864 and reaching New York 1872; moved at 

 rate of 88 miles annually and reached the Atlantic 

 in 1874; in 1877 it reached England but w^as ex- 

 terminated. 



The beetles winter over, usually deep in the 

 ground, occasionally under rubbish; female lays 

 her orange-red eggs in patches on the undersides 

 of the leaves ; she is capable of laying 500 to 2000 ; 

 these hatch in 5 to 7 days ; the grubs eat ravenously 

 and mature in 2 or 3 weeks and then enter ground 

 where they form cells and pupate; the pupal stage 

 lasts 10 days to two weeks; there are two genera- 

 tions here, the adults of the second generation hi- 

 bernating. The work of this beetle seems to affect 

 quality of tubers. 



Control — Spray with paris green, i pound in 

 50 gallons of Bordeaux mixture or arsenite of zinc, 

 i>4 pounds to 50 gallons or arsenate of lead paste 

 4 pounds. 



The potato flea-beetle ^ {Epitrix ciicumcris) 

 Order — Coleoptera 



The potato flea-beetle is a small beetle with en- 



1 Chittenden— U. S. Bii. Ent., Circ. 87. 

 2Tohannsen — Maine Expt. Stat., Bull. 211. 



88 



