Bulletin 151, Truck and Garden Insects


the beets are gathered, if not before. If the infested leaves are
left in the field the grubs have opportunity to enter the ground,
go into the pupal stage and emerge later as flies.
 FLEA-BEETLE
 This is a small oval beetle (fig. 62) that gets its name from
the habit of quickly springing several inches when disturbed.
Two species are more or less troublesome in Florida to beets,
cabbage, cucum-
be r s, tomatoes
and related
plants. They eat
the epidermis on
one side of the
leaf and the soft
interior cells but
leave the veins
and other hard
parts.
 Bordeaux
mixture is usu- a
all y efficacious
in preventing
injury by these a1 4 I
insects. The
mixture can be e
made more effi- FiG. 62.--Strawberry flea-beetle: a, Adult; b, eggs on
 leaf; c, side-view of young larva; e, dorsal view of
cient by the ad- larva; f, pupa. Greatly enlarged. (From U. S. Bur.
edition of from 8
to 16 ounces of powdered lead arsenate (or 1 to 2 pounds of
the paste) to 50 gallons of the bordeaux.
 STRIPED MORNING-SPHINX (Celerio lineata)
 The larva of this very common hawk-moth feeds occasion-
ally on beets, altho its common host plant in Florida is purslane.
It has the size and general appearance of the tomato-worm and
belongs to the same family. Its life history is similar and the
control measures are the same.
 LARGER BEET WEBWORM
 There are two species of small moths of the genus Hymenia
(or Zinckenia) whose caterpillars attack the beet. The larger
one is the spotted beet webworm (Hymenia perspectalis). This