57 * 
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 
jTK&nri a small, black, shining beetle, with a broad, wavy, 
pale, dull-yellow stripe upon each wing-cover 
. Jw'C (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 (Hal'ti-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, 
