The Bulletin. 65 



such situations. It is for this reason that these insects are worse in 

 fields near such places. The writer has seen tobacco planted in new- 

 grounds which were surrounded on all sides by heavy growths of 

 blackberries quite severely damaged by the nymph and adult Tree 

 Crickets. 



Control. 



Preventives. — It is evident from what has been said above that 

 Tree Crickets do not ordinarily frequent tobacco fields. It is only 

 when tobacco fields are brought in close proximity to their native 

 habitat that they do any appreciable amount of injury. It neces- 

 sarily follows that all the method of control needed is to avoid such 

 situations. 



Remedies. — Tobacco sprayed as recommended for Horn Worms 

 (page 30) or Flea Bugs (page 35), with either of the arsenates, is 

 entirely protected against these insects. 



The Corn Root Worm. 1 

 Also Known as "Spotted Melon Bug," "Bud Wobm" and "Dbill Wobm." 



(Order Goleoptera.) 



This well-known enemy of corn and melons is sometimes found in 

 injurious numbers in the tobacco field. The adult beetle eats small, 

 irregular holes in the tobacco leaves. 



This insect passes the winter in the adult stage and comes out the 

 first warm days in spring, being one of the earliest insects noted in the 

 springtime. It feeds upon practically any green vegetation that may 

 come to its notice, being especially injurious at this time of year on 

 melons. The adult beetle (Fig. 53) is about a third of an inch long, 



yellowish-green in color, with twelve black 

 spots on its wing covers. Just where the 

 eggs are laid it is not known, but it seems 

 quite probable that they are laid in small 

 crevices in the ground near corn, which is 

 the food of the larvae. As soon as the larvae 

 hatch, they bore their way into the stalk of 

 corn, often doing a great amount of damage 

 in this way. The larvae become full-grown 

 in three or four weeks, when they change 

 to pupae in the soil. The pupae stay in the 

 ground for about two weeks, when the adult 



Fig. 53.--Adult of the Corn Root i ,, mi i .1 



worm, enlarged. beetles emerge. Inese beetles soon pair, 



(Photograph by the author.) an( $ the eggs of the second generation are 



probably laid among coarse grasses and the larvae probably live in the 



*Diabrotica 12-punctata. 

 5 



