The Bulletin. 23 



a slender beak beneath the bark of the host plant and securing their 

 food by sucking. It is of fundamental importance to know to which 

 class the insect the farmer is trying to combat belongs, in order that 

 he may select the proper spray mixture to be used against it. For 

 this reason the following brief outline of the insects which concern 

 the tobacco farmer is herewith presented. The technical names used 

 in this outline will be used in the discussion of the insects later, 

 and by merely referring to this table the farmer may determine at a 

 glance the class of insects with which he has to deal. We sincerely 

 trust that this outline will be of use to the farmer in not only help- 

 ing him to get acquainted with the various groups of insects, but 

 also in aiding him to fight them intelligently. 



Orthoptera. — Katydids, Grasshoppers, Crickets, Tree Crickets, etc. 

 All the insects of this group are chewing insects and make their 

 presence known by eating holes in the leaves or by chewing through 

 the stem. Although normally present every year in tobacco fields, 

 in greater or less numbers, the insects of this group are not, as a 

 rule, a serious menace to tobacco culture. Grasshoppers and Katy- 

 dids usually become abundant only in the fall of the year after the 

 tobacco crop has been harvested. At this season of the year they 

 often swarm over the tobacco fields and cut the suckers severely. 

 The Grouse Locust (page 46) sometimes injures the young plants 

 in the seedbeds. The Little Brown Burrowing Cricket (page 56) 

 and other Orthoptera, frequently do a certain amount of injury to 

 the young plants just after they are transplanted. 



Hemiptera. — The true hugs, such as the Terrapin Bug, Chinch Bug, 

 Squash Bug, etc. The members of this group are sucking insects. 

 The only one that is found at all commonly in the tobacco fields of 

 North Carolina is the Spined Soldier Bug (page 58). This insect 

 sometimes injures tobacco plants by sucking the juices from the stem., 

 thus causing the plant to wilt. 



Lepidoptera. —Butterflies and Moths. The larvae of insects of this 

 group are known commonly as "worms." All the insects of this 

 class have larvae with biting mouth parts, and it is the larva that 

 is the destructive stage of the insects of this group. The adults are 

 known variously as "moths," "candle-flies," "millers," and "butter- 

 flies." The adults, if they feed at all, feed upon the nectar (honey) of 

 flowers. The only damage they do is to lay the eggs which develop 

 into the destructive larvae. 



Diptera. — The true flies, such as the House Fly, Horse Fly, Mos- 

 quitoes, etc. There are no insect enemies of tobacco in this group. 

 One or two are friends of the tobacco farmer, because they are 

 parasites of tobacco insects. 



Coleoptera. — The true beetles, sometimes wrongly called "bugs." 

 the Potato Beetle, Flea Beetle, etc. The chief injury done to tobacco 



