THE DESTRUCTIVE LEAFHOPPER. 87 
with evidence that the leafhopper occurred in immense numbers and 
did great injury to the crops. 
Prof. Comstock’s account is so brief and covers the conditions at 
the time so well that it will be best to quote a few paragraphs of his 
article entire: 
So many alarming reports were received during the course of the winter as to the 
extent of damage, that it was deemed necessary for me to visit the infested locality, 
which was accordingly done on my return from Florida about the first of March. In 
company with Mr. C. R. Jones, of the Charlotte Observer, I inspected several fields 
in the vicinity of Charlotte, North Carolina, and found that the accounts had not been 
exaggerated. In one infested field of ten acres, belonging to Mr. Geo. King, there 
was hardly one plant left to each square rod of ground. The diseased appearance 
most common in the wheat fields was a wilting of the outer leaves of the plant. Pro- 
fessor Uhler informs me that the customary method of injuring grass or grain is to 
pierce and suck the juices from the midrib of the leaf, and this method of work I have 
been able to confirm by an examination of leaves taken from the infested wheat. 
In a few cases I found the wilted leaves merely cut off at the base; this must have 
been done by some other insect. 
In the wheat fields of Mr. W. W. Rankin the leaf-hoppers were at work in large 
numbers. There was observable on this plantation a most exact line between the 
eaten and uneaten portions. Instead of spreading themselves indiscriminately over 
the field, or half eating a patch here and there, they ate the wheat down to the ground 
as they progressed. In an eight-acre field six and one-half acres were utterly destroyed, 
while on the remaining acre and a half the crop was almost uninjured. It was, how- 
ever, being rapidly destroyed. Here was apparently a good opportunity to watch 
them at their work, but it was impossible to do much on account of their extreme 
shyness, as they would fly upon the least disturbance. Professor Uhler has observed 
them about the time of oviposition resting on the midrib of a blade of grass or grain, 
with the head pointed toward the base of the leaf. The eggs are usually laid in the 
stems of grasses near the ground, judging from the known habits of allied species. 
The young hoppers when hatched are of almost precisely the same appearance as the 
old ones, except that they lack the wings. The time occupied in attaining full 
growth probably does not exceed a month, so that there are several broods a year. 
Many erroneous opinions were given concerning the nature of this insect. Many 
considered it to be some form of the Hessian fly. Others, without attempting to 
name it, called it the fly of the maggot, which lives near the roots of the wheat. I 
was also informed by Mr. Jones that a theory was prevalent to the effect that the leaf- 
hoppers had spread from the cotton fields from the fact that similar insects were found 
in the dried cotton bolls. An examination, however, showed the cotton-boll insects 
to be a Psocus, often found in such situations, and which belongs to an entirely dif- 
ferent order from the leaf-hoppers, the Neuroptera. 
The great damage done the past winter was probably a result of the extreme mild- 
ness of the weather. Under ordinary circumstances the leaf-hoppers are kept in 
winter quarters and many are killed by cold weather. The present winter has been 
so warm, however, that they have been able to feed and reproduce continually. 
Moreover, the crops being in a young and tender condition, the effect of the work of 
the hoppers was infinitely more marked than it could ever be at any other season of 
the year. Under the ordinary conditions, then, of a moderately cold winter the 
ravages of this pest are not to be feared. 
From our present knowledge of the habits of the leaf-hoppers, their injuries in mild 
winters in the more southern portions of the wheat belt will be very difficult to control. 
The only remedy which I have been able to suggest in answer to the urgent inquiries 
of the South Carolina farmers has been that used for the destruction of the allied leaf- 
hoppers on the grape vine, namely, carrying lighted torches through the infested 
