90 INJUEIOUS IKSECTS 



by Oapt. Beebe, of Galena, N. 111., as occurring 

 in very large numbers upon their potatoes, and, ac- 

 cording to Dr. Harris, it is occasionally found even in 

 New England. In some specimens, the broad outer 

 black stripe on the wing-cases is divided lengthways by a 

 slender yellow line, so that instead of two there are three 

 black stripes on each wing-case; and in the same field we 

 have noticed, on two separate occasions, that all the 

 intermediate grades between the two varieties may be 

 met with; thus proving that the four-striped individuals 

 do not form a distinct species, as was formerly supposed, 

 but are mere varieties of the same species to which the 

 six-striped individuals appertain. Some years since we 

 found the insect very abundant on the potato in Cham- 

 paign Co., 111., and Mr., Merton Dunlap, of Champaign, 

 told us that he had succeeded in driving them with 

 brush ofE his potato-patch on to some old hay which 

 he had prepared to receive them, and then, setting fire 

 to the hay, consumed them bodily. Many such cases 

 may be found recorded in different agricultural journals. 

 Mr. M. S. Hill, of East Liverpool, Ohio, states in the 

 ''Practical Entomologist" (vol. I, p. 197), that this 

 species had once swarmed on the potato vines in his 

 neighborhood, and that " the most successful method of 

 destroying them was by placing between the furrows or 

 rows, dry hay or straw, and setting it on fire." "The 

 bugs," he adds, " were thus nearly all destroyed, and the 

 straw burning very quickly did not injure the vines." 



THE ASH-GRAY BLISTER-BEETLE. 

 (Lytta dnerea, Fabr.) 



This species (fig. 61, a, male) is the one commonly 

 found in the more northerly parts of the Northern States, 

 where it usually takes the place of the Striped Blister- 

 beetle. It is of a uniform ash-gray color; but this color is 



