The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-09-30
BULLETIN ISSUED
 ON BEAN BEETLE

Washington, September 29.-(Spe-
 cial.)-The Mexican bean beetle, which has leaped over half the states of the union, and settled in Alabama, and which has already infested portions of Georgia,
 Florida, Mississippi. and Tennessee-an insect which Is declared to be as dan, gerous to beans and peas as the potato
 beetles to the products on which they
 feed--is made the subject of q special bull letin by the United States Department
 of Agriculture.
 This bulletin Is reproduced as follows:
 A new bean and cowpea pest known as
 the bean ladybird or Mexican bean bee tie (epilachna corrupta muls.). which has for many years been established in the
 semi-arid southwest as serious pest, has Just been reported from ten coun-
 ties in Alabama centering at Birming-
 ham during the past summer. It is feared that this infestation may already
 have spread to other portions of the
 state, if not to the states of Georgia.
 Tennessee and Mississippi If this pest is not thoroughly and immediately eradi-
 cated, it may produce a disastrous re-
 suits to the bean and cowpea crops of
 the south as the Colorado potato beetle
 or the sweet-potato weevii to the~crops
 which they attack. An average of fifty
 per cent loss to the bean and cowpea
 crops of the infested counties is al-
 ready reported.
 The Beetle works with great rapidity and in three to six days may ruin an
 entire crop. In the west this pest is confined to edible and soy beans as food plant. It's new habit of feeding upon cowpeas tremendously increases it's possibilities for injury. Since it may also be found to subsist on velvet beans, the kudzu vine, and related plants. there is no barrier to it's continued spread over TT~;+ C<rt ;lro the Colorado potato beetle. it can with stand any extremes of temperature which it is likely to meet. The Mexican bean beetle has recently been the subject of publication, Farmers Bulletin No 1074 in which it's present known distribution outside of Alabama has been mapped. If unchecked, this insect may spread rapid !, ly to neighboring states. thence north ward until the entire eastern United States is overrun, since it is capable of {. of breeding wherever beans are grown. The serious possibilities to the south 1 through the present outbreak may be l compared relative to- the crop with those l experienced on account of the boil weevl While the insect has appeared in Ala bama apparently through commercial l jump" probably with shipments of west ] tern alfalfa hay. 1t flies readily and has 1 created a problem very similar to that l of that Colorado potato beetle in the past 1 The most important point in regard to this eastern outbreak is to determine the exact limits of it's present distribution l It seems probable that it has been pres | ent in Alabama for at least eight or ten I years, if not longer, and as it's known 1 distribution already extends to the bor- der line of Georgia and very close to that of Mississippi, this problem much pc ! carefully considered.
 i, The bean ladybird is a native of North 1 America and had about the same dis l tribution as the Colorado potato beetle in I earlier years and attracted attention at
 about the same time, in 1884, but US method of distribution has been quite ! otherwise. for whereas the potato beetle spred gradually eastward from Colorado year by year. the bean ladybird has until 1 recently remained confined to the south
 western states, and the present outbreak 1 in Alabama has evidently resulted from I jump over the states intervening between Colorado and New Mexico. This outDreak has been the subject of a conference held September 20 and 2l at Birmingham. Ala, {. of the cotton states entomologists ana l others interested in southern agriculture