104 INSECTS OF ECONOMIC IMPORTANCE 



some pupate among or beneath decayino- leaves, 

 while others go into the soil; the pupal stage lasts 

 about 3 weeks ; there are probably 3 generations and 

 perhaps a partial fourth. 



Control — In gardens pick off and burn infested 

 leaves; plow deep and harrow thoroughly as soon 

 as crop is removed ; with beets, use spinach as trap 

 crop; destroy the wild food-plant (lambs-quar- 

 ters). 



The spinach aphid ^"^ (Myf:us pcrsiccc) 

 Order — Hemiptera 



The spinach aphid feeds on over 100 plants; the 

 adult is greenish-yellow to pinkish in color; in 

 colder regions the aphid passes the winter as an egg- 

 on fruit trees while in w^armer localities it may pass 

 the winter as an adult on vegetables; in summer 

 there are many generations on the spinach and great 

 injury often results. 



Control — No satisfactory method of control 

 known. 



Spinach flea-beetle ^^ (Disonycha 



xanthomclccna) 



Order — Coleoptera 



A shining black flea-beetle with red prothorax 

 and about ]/[ inch long; greatly injures sugar beets; 

 beetles hibernate over winter ; lav eefsfs at bases of 

 plants ; larvae feed on underside of leaves and later, 

 together with adults, eat holes in leaves ; tw^o gener- 

 ations at Washington, D. C. 



Control — Dust plants or spray them with ar- 

 senate of lead ; use Bordeaux mixture alone or with 

 poison. 



24 Chittenden— Va. Truck Crop Expt. Stat., Bull. 2. 

 ^^' Chittenden— U. S. Ru. Ent., Bull. 19. 



