The Cotton Stainer and Its Allies 



Life History of the Cotton Stainer 



(Dysderciis sntiirellus H.-SchfJ 



This insect, which is found exclusively in our Southern 

 States, is known popularly by the name of the "cotton stainer." 

 It is found also in the West Indies. Its natural food is probably 

 a rose-mallow (Hibiscus), but it feeds upon the bolls of the 

 cotton plant and also sucks the juices of oranges. It is marked 

 with red and is a very beautiful insect, and derives its popular 

 name from the fact that it stains the cotton in the bursting bolls 



Fig. 201. — Dysdercus sutiirellus. (From Insect Life. J 



by its excretions, which are of a yellowish color. Experiments 

 have been made with this insect looking toward its use as a dye, 

 and the whole substance of the insect can be converted into a 

 rich orange-yellow dye, which can readily be fixed on woolens 

 or silk by the alum mordant liquor. The eggs, to the number of 

 twenty or thirty, are deposited upon the leaves or stalks of the 

 cotton plant, and are also loosely dropped in the sand. The insect 

 molts five times and breeds apparently steadily all through the 

 year, so that there are several generations. Careful observations 

 on the eggs and the first stage are needed. 



308 



