Show j jJ Hi J 11 n r j 7 WESTERN NATURE STUDIES at t i I j tj r By J H PAUL 1 I V A Ai BEETLES H i I 11 How useful to man are certain great stoups groups of the beetles has already been q iJ y f ft pointed out It Is equally true that the t t f beetles b Ues Include many of the most In Injurious jurious of Insects Generally speaking 1 it iti an an Insect Is Injurious If It feeds on vegetation vego o i The following are some of oft t I those recently exhibited by Professor Protessor J Titus before the writers classes In na nature naf nature 21 f ture study at the university un IJ i The Vegetable Feeders c The comprise the group J i of ot plant feeders that eat only living t vegetable f tissue There are kinds that i feed teed on each part of the growing plant i fI some that feed teed on the foliage of flow flowers 1 ors ers others that eat the roots and still I others that devour the seeds This is 4 I I the last of the groups having five jointed tarsi but the third Joint is deeply cleft or lobed the lobes inclosing inclosing ing and almost concealing the fourth i j F SI iA SIr tI f i A J lobe beyond which the fifth lobe runs r rl t out as usual into a claw A T ge Longhorn j t t A few weeks ago a friend sent for the i 1 r writer to see ee a strange creature which J I f he Jle had captured a beautifully banded q 4 lack and white slender insect Insl ct an inch i i long ong with horns longer than tha its body IJ Viand and banded in segments of at black and white like the body bod itself It was one of af the borer beetles that thatis Js is the adults have long antennae antenna while o the young alone do the boring baring Of this I particular s specimen all we could say t I iI that it Is one of the wood borers a I the adult beetle having haing long j I horns and the larva lara being one of the ground heads similar to those shown in inthe 1 the Illustration In the absence of or an I t i Acknowledged name I have called it f Ei the longhorn It 21 bles bits but is more beautiful than the or ornamented ornamented 1 IE and graceful maple borer f t t t The Borers ti I Bearing in mind that t the young sung ung alone n nIh 1 Ih are the borers and that they the ply their I trade beneath the bark of or logs loSS it may bo be b remarked that they the go deeper than J I cj LJ the borers previously p v I If l mentioned The larvae of or longhorns t s J f arc are called roundheads and ve u re e often orten of ot unusual size some attaining a length of at I v 1 three or four tour Inches These larvae are also very ery some having haYing been i kept boring Into the hard harl wood of ma mai i I for twelve years without pass r i ing lug Into the adult stage The larvae x 1 t 1 heads beads are footless grubs with large round il i J There arc are said to be species of these borers many of them t 6 h beautiful like the one first described r and most of them interesting but they thrive mostly In wooded regions Fresh of exuding gum on peach Dench and cherry cham trees Indicate the presence of t the boring larvae lanae The best remedy against the ravages of or or borers is the I j presence pr nce of woodpeckers in orchard or I jT i dorest orest Every such bird is worth many man dollars a each season to any an locality 10 that It frequents It t Is not only a crime but buta butta l c ta a R blunder to kill 1111 or frighten away awa the woodpeckers I Makers i j 1 k Pull off the bark from dead dad d ad logs 8 or I 1 branches branches and the trunk may be found 1 ornamented with striking lacelike pat terns a made by b the larvae lan e of certain c o of f I Iii ii these borers called the engraver beetles I The engravers have hare blunt bodies bodles anc and tare are care mostly very ery small rarely exceeding it a quarter of or an Inch in length 1 t Some sections of this group grout prey pre on o ot n 1 t forest trees They live on the growing I M tissue t and are often called bark beetles They The make regular patterns upon th the e T bark ark as they the eat so regular in fact 0 r that the he genus and often the species scan be named from seeing its work si Some of ot the marks nude by beetles b on o n b 11 the bark of forest trees have hae been u used it as the designs for lace curtains i if The Potato Beetle Leaf Lea beetles feed f d on buds leaves an and d I fl w r They have shorter antennae antenna de e I than those tho a named named 91 above and a d round or o or oI oT r 1 r I IJ J I 1 T IG oval oal usually small bodies often otten striped or spotted The best known and the most dreaded of all is the Colorado po potato potato potato tato beetle Originally a native natle of that state and living on one of ot the wild nightshades the sand bur Sola Solanum Solanum Solanum num it has transferred its allegiance to the cultivated potato upon the advent of at this domesticated member of the nightshade family Sup Supplied Supplied Supplied plied with plenty plent of food it Increased enormously and has spread far east eastward eastward eastward ward doing great damage to the po potato p potato tato crop It Is one of the worst pests but can be held in subjection Since It does not occur in this his state though the most familiar I of beetles In the east it may be as well to state that thatis it t is about of an inch long and half hall as as wide ochre yellow in color with ten black lines on on the wIng wins covers The eggs are arc oval and orange colored laid on the under side of 1 leaves leaves eaves The larvae are soft slimy creatures nearly as destructive as the beetles The free use of Paris green as a spray and gathering the beetles and larvae Jn to pans ans containing a little hater on which kerosene is floating are ar the best rem remedies remedies edies edles On days it may be sufficient suf simply to brush the slugs from rom the plants to the t round Since the he insect rarely migrate migrates now as it former formerly did it can be ex by b cooperation it if it appears p We Ye might look for or it on our wild ground aground cherries and jimson weeds as well as upon potatoes and tomatoes 0 The Sunflower Beetle I We have a beetle that lives on the I sunflower and that closely resembles he the the Colorado beetle The difference in appearance Is that ours has broader stripes and the outer stripe on each wing cover is terminated b by a dot The mark looks like an exclamation point Our Dur t ur beetle is therefore named Its life history Is s pre precisely precisely precisely similar to that of or the dreaded drea ed potato beetle The eggs are laid on the under side of leaves in little bunches the grubs soft oval oaland and yet yel yellowish y l lowish crawl era wI to the upper sloe when hatched and begin to feed on the leaves When ready read to pupate they drop to the earth and enter the ground One brood comes out in the summer and another in la the spring The Milkweed Beetle Another of ot this group is the milk milkweed milkweed milkweed weed beetle red in color and of me medium medium medium small size The The young live on the roots and lower stems the adults which come out ou in the fall feed eed on the herbage of or the milkweed This beetle seems se ms to have hae lost Jost the instinct tea a loss exceptional among insects of f knowing just which species of plants its young oung can feed upon so that it often cuts c a hole in the apple tree and andla lays la s Its eggs eggs there where Its larvae larae unable to find Its proper food will wIn per perish perish perish ish Possibly some wild plant now extinct ex extinct extinct resembling r the apple was the food of the young oung beetle and the group is la now in a stage of transition in find findIng finding finding Ing out the hc food plant most available for the larva The Giant Root Borer The giant a larva that lives m s among afu ng blackberry roots is the young oung of o a black robust beetle one on ope to two inches long The larvae lanae are arc still larger sometimes nearly nearl three inches in length They feed also on the roots of apple cherry cheIT grape oak etc Re Pe Requiring RequIrIng quiring quiring three years to reach maturity they the are decidedly decided troublesome troubles me often otten causing a whole section or ot blackberries I ries suddenly to wilt and even killing kUling larger trees The only known sure remedy remey y iS iT i to dig dlF out the larvae lan j Apple Borer t The apple bore borer Is the larva of another of the longhorns It lives for tor a year ear In the sac and then bores into the trunk up or down dOin After boring baring for three years ears It changes to a 1 Perhaps Perhaps tr J the best br rc ni at as asi i yet found found is simply to cut out th tb larva Since Silice the beetle lays her egg about the first of ot July In the ba bar barof barof of the tree close to the ground if tm lower portion of or the trunk is with two feet of wire mosquito tied at the top and hilled up at th bottom the egg laying can be pre prevented prevented vented Another nother longhorn the d e twig girdler lays lil s an egg in a twig or branch am anc am then eats a girdle around the twig t r l little distance below so that It break breaks off In the wind The twig wilts and tn wood is s then in Just the condition re required required required by Uy larva as food The Asparagus Beetle Bettie Be tI tIThe The asparagus beetle common In the th east is known here in some places laces Both larvae and adults destroy destro this plant rendering rend it unfit for market The beetle is a small but beautiful I crea creature ture slender graceful with red thorax and anc and dark blue or wing covers that I Iha have ha e also a red border Rivalling this i beetle In beauty and destructiveness is the tw asparagus beetle and each marked with six black dots resembling resembling bling from a short distance the ripe rip I I 1 u 1 i 1 i I J I 1 CZ f u c cz I sl z Peachtree Borer a female moth b male a u b C G GG d c larva d female pupa e male pupa f 1 pupa p pupa pa skin akin and cocoon Marlatt Cir Clr 17 B of or Ent Enu U u s sD s Roun headed appletree borer D A c a female beetle d pupa ChIttenden Cit CAr 32 Bof B of Ent nt US U S D Dj DI U A At Ai t i I el i iH j I H I lt 0 i I it I Z a 1 I commo aspan a S r D DI 7 r rI U I ax I i I M 3 a i i i 11 I p r j 4 t G 1 1 I e j t 0 d Apple Twig borer a a two views of beetle b pupa c larva def d e ef f twig burrows Marlatt F B 70 B BI I Ol of 0 tnt Eat U S D A e I Spray S of asparagus wim common asparagus b cc tI eo J r J Natural size Ise j y S D I At the tup on the left ft the he t 10 1 apple ap le tree borer the beetle is of f an Inch long Ions the th larva 1 1 should be dug duS out of the Ue bark and the trunk of the tree protected by mosquito netting 1 i At t the right on top the thc peach tree borer These Thes larvae should be b dug out in June and September Paper Pap r ban J 7 dages around the t e trunk and awash wash a of gas tar are recommended j I ii At the left l ft below the apple twig borer The best remedy Is to cut off 01 and nd burn the infested twigs l I i At the right below the tho asparagus beetles very destructive but kept in check by b the spotted ladybird J the bor 7 I a dered wasps and dragon flies L Where the figures are enlarged the small vertical line shows the actual length of the insect H I I asparagus berry which this larva lana feeds upon The then are in two groups First the long horns such as the giant I Ithe the bark slippers which infest tan tanbark tanbark tanbark bark the oak boring Into and girdling branches of oak so that they the break off oft in the wind the locust borer which riddles maples and locusts though the beetles live in the flowers of ot the golden rod the currant bush borer the apple borer Infesting also quince and pear trees and the th twig girdler Leaf Lc r beetles the second group comprise all the others mentioned here besides many that are not enumerated the grape root worm the long omed corn com root worm the elmleaf beetle etc |