48 



THE AMERICA]^ ENTOMOLOGIST. 



The above tlu-ee insects are all of them true 

 Bugs, and attack the larva; of the Colorado To- 

 tato-bug with the only offensive weapon that 

 they have — their beak. The four following 

 (Figs. 45 to 48) are all Beetles, and are conse- 



quently provided with jaws, so that they are able 

 to eat up their victims bodily ; and all of them, ex- 

 cept the first which is confined to southerly lati- 

 tudes, are common throughout the Western 

 States. Most, if not all, of them prey iudiflferently 

 upon the Colorado larva and the perfect insect 

 produced from it; but, as tliis article has already 

 been extended to an undue length, we shall not 

 dilate upon tlie habits of each of them, but shall 

 content ourselves with giving figures, by wliich 



Colors-Blai-k, cilucd with blue. Color— Dull black. 



they may for the future be recognized without 

 much difficulty.* There are ten or twelve other 

 Beetles, mostly of small size, wliich have the 

 same habits as the above ; but, as they would not 

 be readily identified from an uncolored drawing, 

 we omit them for the present. 



Remedies against the Colorado Potato-bug. 

 It only remains to say sometliing on the most 

 approved method of fighting tlie Colorado Potato- 

 bug. Agreat deal maybe effected by raising your 

 potatoes at a point as remote as possible from 

 any ground, where potatoes were raised in the 



•Fig. 45 is tlic Virginian Tiger-beetle {Tetracha virginica 

 Hope), Fig. 46 is tlie Fiery Ground-beetle (Calosoma calidum, 

 Fabr.), Fig. 47 is the Elongate Ground-beetle (Pasimachus 

 elongatus, Lcc), and Fig. 48 the Murky Ground-beetle 

 (Harpalus caliginosus. Say) . 



preceding year. A great deal may also be ac- 

 complished, where there are no other potato 

 patches in the immediate iieighborliood, by kill- 

 ing every bug found upon the vines in the 

 spring, as fast as they emerge from the ground. 

 By this means the evil is nipped in the bud, and 

 a pretty effectual stop is put to the further pro- 

 pagation of the insect. But if there are potato 

 patches near by, where no attention is paid to 

 destroying tlie bugs, the bugs will keep perpetu- 

 all}- flying in upon you in spite of all you can 

 do. In such a case the old remedy was hand- 

 picking and shaking the vines into a pan. It 

 costs much less to dust the vines over, when the 

 dew is on them, with "Wliite Hellebore powder, 

 which Ml-. Graham Lee, of Mercer county, Ills., 

 found to be an effectual remedy, and not to cost 

 over $2 or $3 per acre {Prairie Farmer, March 

 14, 1868). This is the article which is sold all 

 over the country under various names, as 

 "Potato-bug Poison," &c. Care, however, 

 should be taken in using it not to allow any of 

 it to get into the eyes or nose, as it is a virulent 

 poison. Perhaps as good a mode as any, where 

 the bugs have not been permitted to get too great 

 a start on the vines, would be to introduce 

 among them a number of the Spined Soklier-bug 

 described and figured above (Fig. 41). By 

 beating forest trees into an inverted umbrella, 

 lai-ge numbers of these cannibal bugs may be 

 obtained in a short time, and temporarily de- 

 posited in any convenient vessel, along with a 

 quantity of leaves, to prevent tliem from fighting 

 and destroying one another. It must be recol- 

 lected, however, that many plant-feeding Bugs, 

 very much resembling our Soldier friend, occur 

 on trees along with him; and that, unless care is 

 taken to discriminate between your friends and 

 your foes, your experience may be as unfortunate 

 as that of the London cockney, who bought a 

 wolf, instead of a sheep-dog, to take care of liis 

 sheep. 



rOSTSCKIl'T. 



AVhile we were attending the Illinois State 

 Fair at the end of September, 1808, numerous 

 specimens of the true Black Blister-beetle {Lyt- 

 taatrata, Fabr.), which had been captured ou 

 the potato not far from Qniiicy, were handed to 

 us alive by two separate parties. It was, how- 

 ever, stated that they did not occur in such 

 swarms as to do any material damage, though 

 we were told that even at this advanced period 

 in the season, if in sufficiently large numbers, 

 they would greatly injure late, but not early 

 potatoes. Hence it results that the Black Blis- 

 ter-beetle may be added, without fear of contra- 



