Potato Insects and their Control 175 



appearing in August and September. This brood, coming 

 at a time when the tubers are partially or wholly grown, 

 bores into the flesh and underneath the skin of the potato, 

 causing a pimply or scabby appearance which detracts 

 from their market value. 



Control. — Flea-beetles are very largely controlled by 

 bordeaux mixture, which acts as an effective repellant. 

 They ordinarily feed, howe^'e^, on the under side of the 

 leaves, and thorough spraying both on the upper and lower 

 sides of the leaf is necessary to be satisfactorily effective. 

 Spraying may have to be begun somewhat earlier for the 

 flea-beetle than for other insects or diseases. The insects 

 are so small and their damage begins on the under side of the 

 leaves, so that often a great amount of damage may have 

 been done before it is detected. It is a good practice to 

 eliminate from the farm such plants of the solanacese fam- 

 ily as nightshade, bitter-sweet, horse-nettles, ground cherry 

 and jimson weed. The flea-beetles breed on these as well 

 as the potato itself. 



Blister-beetle {Epicauta and Macrobasis) 



These are leaf-eating insects. The so-called "blister- 

 beetle" or "old-fashioned potato-bug" consists of four or 

 five species of insects which do a tremendous amount of 

 damage to the potato in some years. They sometimes 

 appear in great numbers and are not easily vanquished. 

 They are all medium-sized elongated beetles of different 

 colors : spotted, striped, black, light or dark gray. The 

 adults damage the potato plant, but the larvae are especially 

 beneficial in destroying the egg masses of the grasshoppers, 



A large number of eggs are deposited b}" the female in a 

 small cavity in the ground. The larvae are provided with 



