. Injurious insects of the farm and garden. With a chapter on beneficial insects. Insects. OF THE FARM AND GARDES'. 85. THE POTATO-STALK WEEVIL, (Baridius trinotatus, Say). This insect is more peculiarly a southern species, occur- ring abundantly in the Middle States, and in the more southerly parts of Indiana and Illinois, and also in Mis- souri; but, according to Dr. Harris, being totally un- known in New England. The female beetle (fig. 55, c), deposits a single egg in an oblong slit about one-eighth inch long, which it has previously formed with its beak in the stalk of the po- tato. The l
. Injurious insects of the farm and garden. With a chapter on beneficial insects. Insects. OF THE FARM AND GARDES'. 85. THE POTATO-STALK WEEVIL, (Baridius trinotatus, Say). This insect is more peculiarly a southern species, occur- ring abundantly in the Middle States, and in the more southerly parts of Indiana and Illinois, and also in Mis- souri; but, according to Dr. Harris, being totally un- known in New England. The female beetle (fig. 55, c), deposits a single egg in an oblong slit about one-eighth inch long, which it has previously formed with its beak in the stalk of the po- tato. The larva sub- sequently hatches out, and bores into the heart of the stalk, al- ways, according to Miss Morris, of Penn- sylvania, who was the first to notice it, pro- ceeding downwards to- wards the root. When full grown, it is a little over one- fourth inch long (fig. 55, a), and is a soft whitish, legless grub, with a scaly head. Hence it can always be readily distinguished from the larva of the Stalk Borer, which has invariably sixteen legs, no matter how small it may be. Unlike this last insect, it becomes a pupa (fig. 55, 5), within the potato stalk which it inhabits; and it comes out in the beetle state about the last of August or the beginning of September. The stalk inhabited by the larva almost always wilts and dies. So soon as the vines first wilt, they should be pulled up and burned. The perfect bee- tle, like many other snout-beetles, must of course live through the winter to reproduce its species in the follow- ing spring. Miss Morris found that " in many potato fields in the neighborhood of Germantown, Penn., every stem was in- Fig. 55.—POTATO-STALK WEEVIL, a, Larva; 6, Pupa; c, Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appearance of these illustrations may not perfectly resemble the original Treat, Mary, b. 1835. New York, Orange Judd
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1880, booksubjectinsects, bookyear1887
