THE 



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Jp4ericp]|d[5i^M|i 



VOL. 1. 



ST. LOUIS, MO., NOVEMBER, 1868. 



NO. 3. 



■PUBLISHED 5rONTin,Y BY 

 R. 1?. STTJIDLE-5r &; CO., 



104 OLIVE STHEET, ST. LOUIS. 



TERMS One dollar per amiiun iu ailvancc. 



EDITORS : 



BEXJ. D. WALSH Rock Island, 111. 



CIL:VS. V. RILEY, -2130 Clark Ave St. Loiils, Mo. 



POTATO BUGS. 



Tlie Colorado Potato-lmg — Its past history anil 

 future progress. 

 (Doi-yphom IQ-Uneata, Say).— Up to the au- 

 tumn of 18G5, it was generally supposed by 

 Economic Entomologists, that tliis destructive 

 insect had existed for time immemorial iu the 

 Northwestern States, feeding upon some worth- 

 less weed or oth- 

 er; and that of 

 late jears, from 

 some unexplain- 

 ed cause, it had 

 all of a sudden 

 takcu to attack- 

 ing the Potato- 

 plant. In Octo- 

 ber, 1865, the se- 

 nior editor of this 

 journal publish- 

 ed apaper,show- 

 ing that origin- 

 ally its exclusive 

 home was iu the 

 Kocky Moun- 



aius, where it 



Colors— (0) dcei 



cream color aud black. 



had been known to exist for at least forty-tive 

 years feeding upon a wild species of potato 

 peculiar to that region (Sokmitm rostratum, 

 Dunal) ; that when civilization marched up to 

 the Rocky Mountains and potatoes began to be 

 grown in that region, it gradually acquired llic 

 habit of feeding upon the cultivated potato; 

 that in 1859, spreading eastward from potato 

 patch to potato patch, it had reached a point 



one hundred miles to the west of Omaha cit}', 

 in Nebraska; that iu 1861, it invaded Iowa, 

 gradually iu the next three or four years spread- 

 ing eastward over that State; that in 1864 and 



1865, it crossed the Jlississippi, invading Illi- 

 nois on the western borders of that State, from 

 the eastern borders of North Missouri and Iowa, 

 upon at least five ditTcrent points on a line of two 

 huudrcd miles; and that in all probabilitj' it 

 would in future years " travel onwards to the 

 Atlantic, establishing a permanent colony wher- 

 ever it goes, and pusliing eastward at the rate 

 of about fifty miles a year.'' {Practical Ento- 

 mologist, Vol. I, No. 1.) A remarkable pecu- 

 liarity in the eastern progress of this insect was 

 subsequently pointed out by the same writer in 



1866, namely, that "in marcliing through Illi- 

 nois iu many separate columns, just as Sherman 

 marched to the sea, the southern columns of the 

 grand army lagged far behind the northern col- 

 umns."' {Ibid, II. p, U.) 



Now, let us see 

 ^ how far the pre- 

 • dictions above, 

 have been veri- 

 fied. By the au- 

 ^tumnofl866,the 

 Colorado Potato 

 bug, which ap- 

 pears to have in- 

 vaded the south- 

 west coi-ner of 

 Wisconsin at as 

 early a date as 

 1862 {Ibid, II, • 

 p. 101), had al- 

 ready occupied 

 and possessed a 

 large part of the 

 cultivated or sonthem parts of that State ; and 

 in Elinois, if we draw a straight line to connect 

 Chicago with St. Louis, nearly all the region 

 that lies to the north-west of that line was over- 

 run by it. It subsequently invaded parts of 

 South Illinois, occurring in Union, Marion, and 

 Eflingbam counties, iu 1868; and already in 

 1867 it had passed thi-ough the eastern borders of 

 north and central Illinois into western Indiana, 



?; (6 and c) Venetian red inclining to cream color; (dand e) 



