57 8 THE STUDY OF INSECTS. 



should not be grown in orchards, as is sometimes done in 

 California. 



The Flea-beetles. — There is a group of leaf-beetles, of 

 which we have many species, in which the hind legs are 

 fitted for leaping, the thighs being very large. These are 

 commonly called the flea-beetles. 



The Striped Flea-beetle, Phyllotreta vittata (Phyl-lo-tre'ta 

 vit-ta'ta), is exceedingly common on cabbage, 

 turnip, radish, mustard, and allied plants. It is 

 a small, black, shining beetle, with a broad, wavy, 

 pale, dull-yellow stripe upon each wing-cover 

 (Fig. 704) ; it measures about one tenth of an 

 Fig. 704. inch in length. These beetles eat numerous little 

 pits in the thicker leaves that they infest, and minute 

 perforations in the thinner-leaved plants. The larva is a 

 slender, white worm, about one third inch in length ; it feeds 

 on the roots of the plants infested by the adult. The adult 

 beetles can be destroyed with kerosene emulsion. 



The Cucumber Flea-beetle, Crepidodera cucumeris (Crep-i- 

 dod'e-ra cu-cum'e-ris), is a common pest of melon and 

 cucumber vines ; it also attacks the leaves of potato, rasp- 

 berry, turnip, cabbage, and other plants. This is a minute 

 black species, measuring less than one twelfth of an inch in 

 length. The body is finely punctured, and clothed with a 

 whitish pubescence ; there is a deep transverse furrow across 

 the hinder part of the prothorax; the antennae are dull 

 yellow, and the legs are of the same hue, except the posterior 

 femora, which are brown. The adult beetles feed on the leaves 

 of plants in the same manner as the preceding species ; but 

 the larva is a miner, feeding within the substance of the 

 leaves of the infested plants. 



The Steel-blue Flea-beetle, Haltica chalybea (Harti-ca 

 cha-lyb'e-a). — This is a larger species than the two preced- 

 ing, measuring from one sixth to one fifth inch in length, 

 and is of a dark steel-blue color. It is a great pest in 

 vineyards, eating into the buds of grape in early spring, 



