54 The Bulletin. 



drop to the ground, where they pupate in a small silken cocoon under- 

 neath clods of earth or in the loose rubbish lying on the ground. 

 There are, perhaps, two generations each year, and the winter is 

 undoubtedly passed in the adult stage, the adults hiding away in the 

 midst of trash found about the tobacco barns. 



Fig. 42.— Larva of the Tobacco Leaf Miner, enlarged. 



(Author's illustration.) 



i 



Injury in North Carolina. — Since Professor McCarthy reported this 

 insect as a tobacco pest some twelve years ago, no new records have 

 come to our notice until this past year, when the writer found it in 

 tobacco fields in the old tobacco belt. It was not at this time a 

 serious pest, confining its attention to the lower leaves of the tobacco 

 and was found in only a very limited area. 



Control. 



Preventives. — The horse or bull nettle seems to be the original 

 food plant of this insect, hence all weeds of this type should be kept 

 out of the tobacco field. Frequent cultivation of the tobacco, stirring 

 the soil up quite close to the plants, according to McCarthy, will 

 bury the pupse so deeply that the adult moths will be unable to reach 

 the surface. 



Remedies.' — The larvae may be destroyed in the leaves by pinching 

 them, and if a close watch is kept they may be destroyed in this way 



