252 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO STAPLE CROPS. 



patch, but upon mauy otlier plants of the garden or truck- 

 farm. 



Unfortunately, they present to the farmer a very 

 peculiar problem, for while the beetles are often exceed- 

 ingly injurious, the larvse are even more beneficial, in 

 eating large quantities of grasshoppers' eggs. 



JAfe-Msiory, — The life of these insects is unique. The 

 female lays a large number of eggs in a small cavity in the 

 earth, and from these hatch some small, long-legged larvae, 

 "which run about searching for the pod-like masses of 

 grasshoppers' eggs, upon which they feed. As soon as the 

 appetite of one of these little egg-hunters is appeased, he 

 sheds his skin, and now being surrounded by food and no 

 longer needing his long legs for running, in this next stage 

 of his existence the legs are very short and rudimentary, 

 and he remains almost immobile while feeding upon the 

 rest of the eggs. 



Thus, if their destructiveness be not too severe, it would 

 not be good policy to destroy these beetles whose offspring 

 are so beneficial. 



Three-lined Leaf-beetle {Lema trilineaia Oliv.). 



Closely related to the Colorado Potato-beetle, and very 

 similar to it in habits, is the Three-lined Leaf -beetle 

 [Lema trilineata Oliv.). The eggs can scarcely be distin- 

 guished from those of that insect except by the fact that 

 they are usually laid in rows along the midrib on the 

 under side of the leaf, while those of the former are laid 

 indiscriminately in bunches. 



The larvae, however, may be readily distinguished from 

 all other insects attacking the potato by being covered 

 with a disgusting mass of their own excrement. 



