48 



THE AMERICAI^ ENTOMOLOGIST. 



The above three insects are all of them true 

 Bugs, and attack the larvffi of the Colorado Po- 

 tato-bug with the only offensive Tveapon that 

 they have — their beak. The four following 

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



CFig, 450 CFiS- «•] 



quently provided with jaws, so that they are able 

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

 cept the first wliich is confined to southerly lati- 

 tudes, are common throughout the Western 

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

 upon the Colorado larva and the ijcrfect insect 

 produced from it ; but, as this article has already 

 been extended to an undue length, we shall not 

 dilate upon the habits of each of them, but shall 

 content ourselves with giving fig-ures, by wMch 



[Fig. 47.] [Fig. 4S.] 



Colors— Black, edged with blue. Color— Dull black. 



they taay for the future be recognized without 

 much difficulty.* There ai-e ten or twelve other 

 Beetles, mostly of small size, which 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 tlio Colorado Potato-l)Qg. 

 It only remains to say something on the most 

 approved method of fighting the Colorado Potato- 

 bug. Agreatdealmaybe effected by raising your 

 potatoes at a point as remote as possible from 

 any ground, where potatoes were raised in the 



•Fig, i5is the Virginian Tiger-beetle (Tetracha virginica 

 Hojje), rig. 46 istlie Fierj' Ground-beetle (Calosoma calidum, 

 Fabr.) , Fig. 47 is the Elong.ite Ground-beetle [Pasimaclms 

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

 (Harpaius caliginosus, Say) . 



preceding year. A great deal may also be ac- 

 complished, whore thei-e are no other potato 

 jiatches in the immediate neighborhood, 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 biid, and 

 a prett)'' 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 the bugs, the bugs will keep jierpetu- 

 ally 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 ^Vliite Hellebore jpowder, 

 wliich 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 nou to allow any of 

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

 poison. Perhajis as good a mode as anj^, 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 Soldier-bug 

 described and figured above (Fig. 41). By 

 beating forest trees into an inverted umbrella, 

 large 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 them 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 discrimiuate between your Mends 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 his 

 sheep. 



rOSTSClUPT. 



Wliile we were attending the Illinois State 

 Fair at the end of September, 1868, numerous 

 specimens of the true Black Blister-beetle (Lyt- 

 ta atrata, Fabr.), which had been captured on 

 the potato not far from Quincy, 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 kidded, without fear of contra- 



