IRELAND PUT ON COLORADO BEETLE ALERT The Irish Agriculture Department issued a Colorado beetle alert today after three of the beetles were found in a box of parsley imported from France. Officials said a colony of the black and amber coloured beetles can destroy a potato field in a day. The females lay up to 2,500 eggs each. Some of the 80 boxes in the parsley consignment had already been distributed to markets and the department called on all shopkeepers and the catering trade to be on the alert.