728 REPORT UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 



Lepthiotnrsa juneta (Germar) represents 7). lOIineata in the Northern 

 and Western States. It may be easily confounded with the latter, but 

 differs from it in the third and fourth lines in each wing-cover (count- 

 ing from the inner edge of the elytron), being nnited to form a common 

 band, and the legs are entirely pale yellow, with a dark spot on the 

 thighs (femora). The larva has a lighter-colored head, and but a single 

 row of lateral dark spots. It feeds on the wild potato, not eating the 

 cultivated species. Though first collected in Georgia, it partially in- 

 habits all the Southern States. 



Remediefi. — The surest and safest remedy is hand-picking. As soon 

 as the eggs are laid they should be looked for on the under side of the 

 leaf and the leaf torn off and burned. Afterward the grubs and bee- 

 tles should be picked off. The following extract from a correspondent 

 of the New York Tribune shows the efficacy of this remedy : 



From Jnue 7 to August 17 I have caught aud killed, by actual countiug, over eight- 

 een thousand (18,602) "hard shells," without reckoniug the eggs aud youug ones, on 

 less than a quarter acre of potatoes, so that not a vine has lost its leaves. The bugs 

 have stripped the neighboriug patches, and now come swarming on mine. My neigh- 

 bors Paris-greened, scalded, mashed, and burned bugs till the vines had blossomed, 

 then left them live, grow fat, aud migrate. Would it be feasible to tine the negligent 

 bug-catching farmers next year aud otier medals to the diligent ? 



While hand-picking should be practiced and perhaps State bounties 

 paid for the eggs, grubs, and beetles, prizes might be offered by agri- 

 cultural societies for the largest collections. Co-operation among farm- 

 ers and others should also be urged, even if legislation should have to 

 be resorted to. President P. A. Chadbourne, of Williams College, ad- 

 vocates higher culture. " Since," he has remarked, " it costs as much 

 to protect an acre of potatoes yielding twenty bushels as one yielding 

 one hundred bushels, less land' should be planted and more highly cul- 

 tivated, as in soil properly tilled it would perhaps not cost more than 5 

 cents a bushel to protect the potatoes." The aid of fowl should also be 

 invoked, as chickens freely feed on the grubs. 



In the Western States the use of Paris green is advocated. This is a 

 preparation of arsenic, aud is deadly poison. If used at all in the 

 thickly-settled Eastern States, it should be handled with extreme cau- 

 tion, and only by careful persons, and in gardens and farms where no 

 children are about. One part of Paris green may be mixed with about 

 twenty of cheap flour and dusted over the vines early in the morning while 

 the dew is on the leaves. The simplest way is to sift the flour from a 

 fine muslin bag attached to a pole or from a dredging-box. Although 

 Paris green is freely used in the West, I would not advocate its use in 

 New England on small farms near houses and in the vicinity of large 

 towns. ;Mr. John H. Sears tells me that several valuable horses and 

 cows have to his knowledge died from this poison. Human life is threat- 

 ened, as the powder blows about, and the risk of poisoning is too great 

 to be lightly taken. 



Various machines have been devised for use on large farms, and liquid 

 preparations and patent sprinklers manufactured for the purpose. Tbose 



Both L .10-/(«(a/((and jnncia, the latter inhabiting the Southern States aud originally 

 representing W-Uneata of the eastern slope of the Rocky Mountain Plateau, are repre- 

 sented in Mexico, Costa Rica, Bogota, and Bolivia by L. ll-Ihicafa Chevr., in which 

 the head is black aud the body darker yellow, but the elytra striped in much the same 

 way, while it is a little smaller. Regarding the generic name of the lO-lineata, Dr. 

 Horn writes mo " there is some difiQculty, but I think all will liually settle down to 

 the name Lepiinoiarsa deccmlineaia." M. A. Preudhomme de Borre, in his writings ou 

 this insect, calls it Leptinotarsa decemlineata, and says that it has been improperly re 

 erred to Doryphora. 



