IOWA ACADEMY OP SCIENCES. 
171 
On July 7th Mr. Stewart found a small thread-like white 
worm, about one-sixth of an inch long, burrowing into potatoes. 
He also found small white bodies in the soil around the pota- 
toes. The white bodies were found to be pupae of some of the 
flea beetles. They were bred, issuing in about eight days as 
adult Grepidodera cucumeris. About two weeks after the grubs 
were found mining the potatoes they issued as adult beetles and 
proved to be Grepidodera cucumeris. 
There is a leaning to the theory that the potato flea-beetle 
is double brooded in this section, Long Island. I think that 
this is based on the fact that the beetles appear quite numerous 
in April and early in May on plantain and various other 
weeds. I have seen no evidence of their pairing at this season 
— in fact they were not observed pairing until June. Further- 
more they were very destructive to potato and tomato vines 
the past season from the time the plants came up until the 
middle of June, at which time the beetles commenced to dimin- 
ish in numbers. From the middle of July until August they 
appeared again in such numbers that they soon made the potato 
fields appear as if a hot wind had struck them. 
A close watch was kept for signs of another brood after the 
July brood. No signs of pairing were noticed. The adult 
beetles appeared to gradually disappear, until late in October 
scarcely a single beetle could be found. 
As the facts stand there is probably but one brood of the 
potato flea- beetle a year. The eggs are probably dropped dur- 
ing the month of June to the ground from whatever plant the 
adults are feeding upon. The larva hatch and work their way 
to the roots and tubers of the plants upon which they feed. 
The pupa stage is passed in a naked state in the surrounding 
soil. The adults issue in July and August, feeding awhile, 
then scatter to hibernate. They come out early the following 
spring, feed on various plants until the latter part of May, or 
until June, at which time they begin to pair and deposit their 
eggs. 
The larvse are only about one- sixth of an inch long. They 
are provided with three pairs of true legs and a single anal leg. 
They have a peculiar habit of resting at nearly right angles to 
the object on which they are feeding. They will remain in this 
position even after the root or tuber upon which they are feed- 
ing has been removed from the ground. They rarely mine 
more than the length of the body into the root or tuber. These 
