EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETINS. ' 159 



In such cases the lice have been readily killed by a spray of to-bak-ine, 

 a tobacco extract containing about fifty per cent of nicotine. This 

 has been put on at the rate of five teaspoonfulls to two gallons of water, 

 and applied with a bucket spray. One application has been known to do 

 a clean job with no injury to the plants. Doubtless some of the kero- 

 sene-emulsions will also kill them satisfactorily. 



Leaf-hoppers (Jassidae). 



A number of species of leaf-hoppers feed on the leaves of the beet.* 

 All are small, rather slender, and all jump on the slightest provocation. 

 Tbey suck the sap from beneath the surface of the leaves, leaving a 

 small dead spot to mark each puncture. This would ordinarily amount 

 to little, but when the insects come in swarms, as is often the case, the 

 aggregate amounts to a good deal. It is not possible to control these 

 pests by spraying with poisons, as they pierce beneath the surface for 

 their food supply. The contact insecticides will kill a certain propor- 

 tion of them, but no spray yet devised is satisfactory unless used when 

 the pests are small. They pass the winter in rubbish, under leaves, 

 etc., therefore collect and burn all rubbish after cold weather sets in. 



GRASSHOPPERS. 



When, from time to time, grasshoppers attack the beets, they should 

 be killed by poisoned baits, provided of course, that such baits may be 

 used without danger to stock or poultry. Griddle mixture, a mixture 

 of arsenic, salt and horse-manure, is highly recommended by several who 

 have tried it. Bran and arsenic, or paris-green and bran, has the dis- 

 advantage that it is readily eaten by birds and poultry. For a further 

 discussion of gi'asshoopers see Insects of Sweet-corn. 



Beet Web-worm (Loxostege sticticalis) . 



From time to time we meet the beet web-worm, an insect that, on 

 several occasions, has been very severe in its attacks. The eggs of 

 the web-worm are laid on the leaves, and the larvae that come from 

 them attack the foliage, either spinning small webs among the young 

 and tender shoots at the center of the plant, or else feeding on the under- 

 side of the larger leaves, either protected by a small web of silk or 

 else exposed, with no protection whatever. The caterpillars are pale 

 yellowish-green, or reddish-yellow in color dotted with small black 

 points, each of which bears a hair. They are about three-fourths of an 

 inch in length. The head is yellowish-brown marked with brown spots; 

 the prothoracic shield is somewhat lighter in color. The backs of the 

 first two segments each bear four black dots; segments three to eight 

 each bear six black dots, arranged in two triangles. Segment nine has 

 one larger median spot with two smaller lateral ones and segment ten 

 has the anal shield, dirty yellow in color, marked with brown spots. 

 The under side is marked somewhat similarly with dirty spots, each 

 spot being bordered indistinctly with pale. The legs are pale with 

 darker markings. 



The pupa of this moth is buried in the soil. The larva spins a slender 



♦See Forbes and Hart, Bui. 60, University of Ulinois, Experiment Station. 



