TOMATO INSECTS 103 



common in the North and the other more common 

 in the South ; the caterpillar becomes about 3 inches 

 long; the insect passes the winter in the ground as 

 a pupa, the first moths appearing about June i ; 

 they deposit their eggs on the leaves and the cater- 

 pillars become grown in about 3 weeks when they go 

 into the soil to pupate; the generations are some- 

 what confused but there appears to be one in the 

 North and two farther south each season. 



Control — Hand pick the larvae ; spray with paste 

 arsenate of lead, 5 pounds to 100 gallons of water 

 or dust with powdered arsenate of lead, 3J^ to 5 

 pounds to the acre. 



The tomato fruit-worm ^^ (Heliothis obsoleta) 

 Order — Lepidoptera 



This is the same as the corn ear-worm and boll- 

 worm of cotton. It is more abundant farther 

 south. The larva eats into the tomatoes and often 

 destroys large numbers of them. 



Control — Plow land in fall or winter. Dust in- 

 fested plants, especially the fruit, with powdered 

 arsenate of lead. 



BEET AND SPINACH PESTS 



Beet leaf-miner ^^ (Pegomyia hyoscyami) 

 Order — Diptera 



The parent insect is a fly about as large as a 

 housefly; it passes the winter mostly as puparia in 

 the soil; the flies appear late in April and in May 

 and lay their eggs on the undersides of the leaves; 

 the eggs hatch in from 4 to 6 days and the maggots 

 burrow into the leaf where they make blotch-like 

 mines; they become full-grown in 7 to 14 days and 



' Quaintance and Brues — U. S. Bu. Ent, Bull. 50. 

 ' Dickerson — N. J. Expt. Stat., Kept, for 191 1, p. 



444. 



