BEET PESTS 
613 
Fig. 1. Beet Leaf Hopper. la, Adult of Z. tenella; 1b, Nymph; 2, Adult of H. scitula. 
ed or elongated in shape; whitish or pale 
yellow in color with a large tuft of white 
flocculence covering the posterior end of 
the body. The legs, antennae, and spots 
on the top of the head are brown. The 
winged lice are a little larger, more elon- 
gated and much darker in color. The 
head, antennae, legs and thorax are black 
and being usually covered with a fine, 
white powder appear bluish-black; ab- 
domen dark green. The presence of this 
pest is easily told by the white floccu- 
lence which covers the lice as well as sur- 
rounding infested areas on the roots. 
Food Plants 
As this is a subterranean aphid, only 
the roots are affected, but often in such 
a way as to ruin portions of the crop. 
Sugar beets are the only economic plants 
attacked to any injurious degree. Wild 
yarrow, dock, knotweed (Polygonum avi- 
culare) are also attacked. 
Remedy 
Rotation. 
E. O. Essie 
Blister Beetles 
The striped blister beetle or what is 
sometimes. called the old-fashioned potato 
beetle, frequently attacks the beet. They 
come in immense numbers and are likely 
to do serious injury before their presence 
is observed. They are long, slender 
beetles with black and yellow stripes. 
Apply arsenate of lead as soon as the 
beetles appear. 
Frea Beeties. See Potato. 
Minute False Chinch Bug 
Nysius angustatus minutus Uhl. 
Family Lygaeidae 
General Appearance 
The adults are very small grayish- 
brown bugs, about one-sixteenth of an 
inch long. The young are somewhat 
lighter in color, having reddish-brown 
abdomens and lacking wings. The legs 
and antenne appear very long and are 
dark. 
Life History 
The eggs are deposited in the spring 
and early summer by the adults which 
have hibernated during the winter. The 
young are dull gray or brownish-red, and 
collect in great numbers upon the host 
plants. The life cycle is short, there be- 
ing many successive broods each year. 
Food Plants 
The insect is especially destructive to 
sugar beets grown for seed. It has been 
collected in large numbers on cultivated 
flowers. 
Control 
Soap emulsions and tobacco sprays are 
excellent remedies. Pyrethrum is also 
recommended, but is too expensive for 
large plantings. 
EK. O. Essie 
| Plant Bug 
Lygus pratensis, etc. 
Flattened, sucking bug, nearly one-fourth 
inch long when full grown, brownish in 
color, marked with yellow and black. 
Hibernates under grass and _ rubbish. 
