88 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO GARDEN AND ORCHARD CROPS. 



plants were much eaten and had evidently been attacked as early as the 

 first week of May, or soon after their first appearance above ground. 



Eggs were laid freely overnight, and the following description was 

 made: 



The egg.— Elliptical-oval, a little less than twice as long as wide; 

 moderately shining, yellowish gray; surface divided into very minute 

 irregular areas, somewhat symmetrically, but not always regularly, dis- 

 posed in groups of seven inclosed in hexagons. Length, 0.40 to 0.42 mm ; 

 width, 0.22 to 0.24" 1 " 1 . 



This flea-beetle has received little attention at the hands of economic 

 entomologists, for the obvious reason that it has without doubt been 

 very generally assumed to be identical with the very similar E. cuciim- 

 eris. In our official correspondence it has been reported as injurious 

 but once, and that during the past year. August 3 and 9 Mr. Henry J. 

 Gerling sent specimens of the beetles which were attacking the leaves 

 of eggplant at St. Charles, Mo., the foliage being described as badly 

 eaten. 



In a paper entitled " Supplementary report on insects affecting the 

 strawberry," published by Prof. S. A. Forbes in the Transactions of 

 the Mississippi Valley Horticultural Society for the year 1884 (vol. II, 

 p. 236), this species, mentioned as Crepidodera fuscula, is included in a 

 list of flea-beetles that infest the strawberry. No particulars, however, 

 are given beyond a brief description of the adult. The same paragraph 

 on flea-beetles affecting strawberries appears in the same writer's annual 

 report as State entomologist of Illinois for the year 1883 (1884, p. 86). 



The first account of any length which I find concerning this insect is 

 given by Prof. H. Garman in the Second Annual Report of the Ken 

 tucky Agricultural Experiment Station (1890, p. 26), where the species 

 is mentioned under the title, " The Potato Flea-beetle, Crepidodera fus- 

 cula Crotch." The statement is made: " Wherever examined last sea- 

 son the potato leaves were found to be gnawed full of small holes, which, 

 from their abundance and from the fact that the edges of the holes 

 became brown after a time, often gave the leaves a diseased brown 

 appearance." In several fields examined it was impossible to find a 

 leaf entirely free from injury. Nothing of the life history of the species 

 was ascertained, but it was found " that a mixture of lime, sulphate 

 of copper, and water saved the potato from the injuries of this flea- 

 beetle very effectually." 



The same writer under the heading "Bordeaux mixture as an insecti- 

 cide" (Agricultural Science, vol. vi, p. 126, 1892), again commented upon 

 the efficacy of a spray of Bordeaux mixture as a remedy against this 

 flea-beetle (mentioned as C repidodera pubescens). 



Mr. Garman also gives a short account of this species under the title 

 "The Southern Flea beetle of Potatoes, Epitrix fuscula? in Bulletin 

 61 of the Kentucky Agricultural Experiment Station, published in 

 1896 (pp. 15, 16). The ravages of this flea-beetle were observed to be 

 checked by a combination of Paris green and Bordeaux mixture, or 

 by the former applied alone. 



