THE BEETLES: ORDER COLEOPTERA 



135 



Leaf Beetles 



One of the most generally destructive families of beetles 

 is that of the Leaf Beetles (Chrysomelidae). As a rule, these 

 are elongated or roundish beetles, having jaws especially 

 adapted for feeding upon leaves. Their larvae, for the 

 most part, are short, thick grubs, with well-de- 

 veloped thoracic legs. They feed in both the 

 larval and adult states upon a great variety of 

 wild and cultivated plants, and often become seri- 

 ously destructive to the latter. 



No member of this great family is so generally 

 and unfavorably known as the Colorado Potato Beetle. 

 Originally a native of the Rocky Mountain region, where it 

 fed upon a wild species o"f Solanum, — the genus to which 

 the common potato belongs, — it started eastward as soon 

 as the settlers' garden patches connected its home with the 

 Atlantic states by means of a practically continuous potato 

 field. Then it boarded transatlantic steamships and stole 



a passage to Europe, 

 where it gained a de- 

 cided foothold before re- 

 ceiving the attention it 

 deserved. 



The various stages 

 of the Colorado Potato 

 Beetle are shown in 

 the accompanying pic- 

 tures. The brown-striped 

 beetles deposit the or- 

 ange-colored eggs in masses upon the leaves. These eggs 

 shortly hatch into the curious brown grublike larvae, which 

 feed upon the tissues of the leaves and cast their skins 



COLORADO POTATO-BEETLE- 



