248 
AMERICAN AGRICULTUHIST. 
[July, 
a great bight it discovers its prey, are truly wonderful. 
This eagle is found in nearly all parts of the country, and 
is supposed to live to a great age ; it builds a rude nest 
of sticks, turf, moss, and other materials, live or sis feet 
in diameter, at the top of a tall tree, and occupies it year 
after year, raising two to four young. Among the good 
qualities of the bird is its close attachment to its mate, 
the two being never found far apart, and their relations 
are supposed to continue until one or the other dies or is 
killed. On the other hand, it is a very tyrant among 
weaker birds, and gets a large share of its living by 
watching the more industrious Osprey or Fish-hawk, and 
robbing it of its prey. The use of some eagle as an em¬ 
blem, dates from the days of ancient Rome, and it is 
used in a monstrous double-headed form by Austria and 
other European countries. Some have regretted the 
adoption of the Bald-headed Eagle as our national em¬ 
blem, as it is not in its private character altogether 
lovely. Still it is quite as noble among birds as is the 
lion among beasts, adopted by the mother country, and 
is much more real than that remarkable unicorn, also 
represented as “fighting for the crown ” upon the seal 
of Great Britain. No one who has seen the Bald-headed 
Eagle in its flight, can regret that it was chosen as the 
Emblem of Freedom—as for the rest, we know that even 
human heroes have their weaknesses. It would be in¬ 
teresting to bring together alt the various forms in which 
the imagination of artists has pictured our eagle. The 
engraving on the first page gives but a small part of those 
;n which the bird has been represented upon coins, seals, 
banners, and elsewhere. The spread eagle, the eagle 
with the olive brancli and thunderbolts, the bird guard¬ 
ing a shield, or grasping a cannon, the eagle standing on 
the lookout for things in general, or even in a hurried 
flight for some place in particular, arc some of the 
forms in which this bird has been represented. It is 
proper here to enter our protest against the wanton 
shooting of the eagle wherever it may appear, and ex¬ 
press our sincere hope that the American Agriculturist 
for July, I97(i. may not be obliged to mention itas an ex¬ 
tinct bird, either in reality or as an emblem of freedom. 
The Potato “Bug” Once More. 
A gentleman visited our office some weeks ago in 
a “state of mind ; ” his crop of potatoes was being 
destroyed by the “Bug,” and the American Agricul¬ 
turist had said nothing about it. Letters come ask¬ 
ing what to do for the “ potato bug,” and even 
now samples of the insects arc sent, asking what 
they are. We have once before suggested in a jocu¬ 
lar manner, that the only way to suit some persons 
would be to print the paper with the same contents 
month after month, as very few appear to remem¬ 
ber what they read. Now that the “ potato bug ” 
has made its way to the far East, those who dwell 
there look upon the matter as something entirely 
new, forgetting that we have for the past ten years 
chrouicled the eastward progress of the insect, and 
warned them to expect it. While we felt that we 
had fully discharged our duty to our readers, in re¬ 
lation to this insect, wc had the curiosity to look 
back through the volumes to see just what had 
been done. We find that in August, 1S65, the year 
when the insect crossed the Mississippi, we figured 
and described the perfect insect and its larva, and 
gave tlie remedies then known. From that year to 
the present, we find that we have averaged three 
articles and notes a year, and in 1875, when it first 
became serious in the Eastern States, there were 
no less than eleven articles, long and short, several 
of them with engravings describing the insectanew, 
giving the various appliances for its destruction, and 
recording its progress from place to place. In view 
of all this, we can only be amused when we are told 
that we have neglected the “potato bug.” The 
above enumeration does not include the frequent 
references to the insect in the “ Hints About Work,” 
which are always as carefully considered, and are 
as new and fresh as any other articles. This year, 
warnings have been given in these nints, and in 
June, p. 207, there are concise directions for killing 
the “bug,” by the use of Paris green. Consider¬ 
ing the fact that we have many readers who have j 
not kept the run of the subject, and that it is one 
of great importance to every farmer, and nearly 
every one who has a garden, we are warranted in 
giving once more an 
ABRIDGED HISTORY OF TnE POTATO BUG. 
We would remark that those who have access to 
the valuable reports of Prof. Riley, the State Ento¬ 
mologist of Missouri, will find running through 
them the most detailed and complete history of the 
insect in all its relations anywhere to be found. 
Having investigated the insect from its first appear¬ 
ance as an enemy to agriculture, and kept track of 
it to the Atlantic Coast, he has accumulated a great 
amount of information which we hope may some 
time be consolidated in a single treatise. 
WHAT IS THE INSECT ? 
though generally called the “ Potato Bug,” it is 
not a “ bug ” at all, except to those who call all in¬ 
sects bugs. The name should be restricted to the 
insects of the order of which the Bed, Chinch, and 
Squash bugs are examples. The Potato “bug” is 
a beetle, and its correct common name is the “Col¬ 
orado Potato Beetle,” but the term “ Potato Bug” 
is so much easier to speak, and so well established, 
that there is no hope of a change in this respect. 
Entomologists call it Doryphora decemlineata , which 
may be translated as “The Ten-lined Spearman.” 
Like other insects, it has its four stages, (1), the 
egg; (2), the larva or grub ; (3), the pupa or chrys¬ 
alis ; (4), the perfect insect. 
WHAT DO THESE LOOK LIKE ? 
To answer this we give an engraving which wc 
have before used, but which answers the purpose 
as well as a new one would, it being quite accurate. 
(1). The eggs («), are oval, of a dark orange color, 
and are deposited upon the under-side of the leaf 
in patches of 10 to 40, a single female laying from 
500 to 700 eggs ; these hatch out in a week or less, 
and produce (2). The grubs or larva;. These are 
at first very small (6), of a reddish color, eat vora¬ 
ciously, and grow rapidly, becoming light orange, 
with a double row of black spots along their sides 
as they mature, when they are fat and disgusting 
in appearance, (c). It takes the grubs two or three 
weeks to mature, when they drop from the vines, 
and go into the earth, where they form a little cav¬ 
ity and enter (3), the pupa state, in which they re¬ 
main quiet for 10 or 12 days, and at length come 
out as the perfect insect, which makes its way to 
the surface, and has the appearance of d, d, in the 
Fig. 1.—THE POTATO BUG IN DIFFERENT STAGES. 
a, eggs ; b, young grubs : c , mature grubs; d, perfect 
insects. 
engraving, which gives a side and back view. The 
insects are then ready to provide for another brood, 
and they lose no time in doing it. The perfect iu- 
sect is of the size and shape shown in the engrav¬ 
ing, and has the general appearance of a large 
“Lady-bird,” with stripes instead of spots. It is 
distinguished by the 10 distinct black lines upon a 
yellowish or bull ground, and there is no other in¬ 
sect feeding upon the potato that is likely to be 
confounded with it. 
ITS HABITS. 
The first insects which appear in the spring come 
out of the ground, they lay eggs, and a crop of 
grubs soon hatch out. Hence the importance of at¬ 
tacking them on their very first appearance. There 
arc three broods, the last of which enters the ground 
iu October, and remains there in the beetle state, 
usually not more than 20 inches below the surface. 
Unlike some insects, it is very destructive in the 
beetle or perfect state, and is not only injurious as. 
a breeder, but as a feeder. The perfect insects, es¬ 
pecially those of the later broods, fly in the middle 
of the day, and one indifferent cultivator, as we 
know from unpleasant experience, will keep a 
whole neighborhood stocked with them. 
WHERE DID IT COME FROM ? 
It was first discovered in the canyons of the Col¬ 
orado mountains, where it fed upon several species 
of solatium , natives of that region, and was known 
to entomologists long before it became a pest to 
the farmer. Until potatoes were planted in the far 
west, it had nothing to subsist upon in a journey 
eastward, but when the country became settled, the 
insect rapidly increased with the abundance of 
food ; it was first noticed as injurious to the crops 
about 1859, and since then has progressed eastward 
and into Canada with accelerated rapidity. 
"WHAT DOES IT FEED UPON? 
Mostly upon potato plants (Solanum tuberosum),. 
because there are the most of them, but it is equally 
fond of all of the solanum family ; it attacks toma¬ 
toes, and especially egg plants, of which it seems 
to be more fond than of anything else. Ornamental 
solanums, or other plants of the family are attacked 
by it. It seems, since it has come eastward, to 
have acquired a taste for other plants, not at all re¬ 
lated to the solanum family ; pig weeds, mullein, 
thistles, and smart weed among wild plants, and 
the cabbage among those in occasionally cultiva¬ 
tion, are plants it has been known to attack. 
WHEN WILL IT DISAPPEAR? 
So far as experience has shown, the insect on its 
progress eastward does not move on, but some re¬ 
main, and while they do not seem so numerous 
after the first few years, potato growers apparently 
must accept the beetle as a fixed fact. It has kept 
a foot-liold wherever it has come, and there is no 
present indication that it will soon leave. It is in 
vain to hope that it will cure itself, but it demands 
the serious attention of all who cultivate the potato 
and related plants. To be sure there are 
ITS NATURAL ENEMIES, 
which we may hope, judging from other insect, 
scourges, will increase sufficiently to keep it in sub¬ 
jection, but these slowly follow 
the pest. There are several 
of these, one a genuine para¬ 
site that deposits its eggs in 
the larva of the potato beetle, 
and several others that at¬ 
tack, kill, and feed upon the 
larvae. Several larvae of the lady-birds are very ac¬ 
tive in this respect, and should be encouraged, or 
at least not destroyed, as we have known to be the 
case. Figure 2 shows the general form of the lar¬ 
vae of the lady-birds, the line giving the usual size ; 
they move with great activity, and destroy numbers 
of the young grubs of the potato bug ; these are 
usually lead-colored, with bright orange spots; 
these and the perfect lady-birds should be unmo¬ 
lested, as should their pupae. The lady-bird larva 
enters the pupa state on the potato vine, attaching 
itself to a stem or leaf, it coils up and may be, by a 
careless observer, mistaken for a small potato bug 
grub, and destroyed. This is perfectly dormant 
and attached, while the other will move, and is 
readily picked off. Other iusects in the perfect 
state, and as larvae, aid in the work of destroying 
the larvae of the potato bug. The only safe way is 
to watch every other insect found among them, and 
do not destroy it until it is found to be injurious to 
tlie potato plant. 
HOW TO DESTROY THE POTATO BUG. 
When the potatoes first appear above ground, 
begin the search for the bugs. The first that ap¬ 
pear come out of the ground after their winter’s 
rest. If these are captured at once, before they 
breed and lay eggs, it will materially diminish their 
future numbers. Much may be done by mechan¬ 
ical means when the iusects are not in overwhelm¬ 
ing numbers. Some have been very successful in 
simply knocking them off by means of a light pad¬ 
dle made of shingle, and catching them in a pan 
containing water. We have successfully used a 
Fig. 2.— LARVA3 OF 
LADY-BIRD. 
