54 miscellanp:ous cotton insects. 



the followino- reply, which it will he noticed much more closely ag-rees 

 with our observations and practically explains the seeming- differences: 



Replying to your favor of August 11 (1904), making inquiry concerning my obser- 

 vations upon Houialudisca coagulata {trlquetra), I beg to state as follows: The observa- 

 tions on the laying of the two eggs were the first in which I actually saw the deposi- 

 tion made. Later on, however, I found the egg-laying in greater quantities and in a 

 row, as yon indicate you have observed. So far as I have ever observed, they always 

 lay just underneath the epidermis of the leaves or stems, and I have often found them 

 on the outer surface or at the base of the involucre of the squares and forms. I cer- 

 tainly ought not to be quoted as observing them laying their eggs within the young 

 form and squares, because it is not correct [in reply to my query concerning the 

 statement in Insect Life to this effect]. The small black speck which you speak of 

 on the squares is certainly not due to the egg deposition of this sharpshooter; neither 

 is it due to the feeding habits of these leaf-hoppers, especially if they are more than 

 half grown. The newly hatched sharpshooters feed more or less under shelter; that 

 is, they may be more or less hidden; for this reason the very youns are often found 

 in the bud, so called, of the tender growing tips of the branches on cotton. It is 

 here, while the leaf buds and fruit buds are bunched together and in a formative 

 condition, that the most serious damage is done. The feeding punctures are often 

 not serious enough to shed the squares until they grow out and attain some size. Just 

 where the square has been punctured can not be readily determined when the injury 

 has been done while the square was very young, as it simply yellows a little and 

 sheds. However, there is no question but that much of the shedding charged to 

 the sharpshooter is due to natural causes or lack of proper nutrition in the plant. 



You will not find the second brood very clearly indicated by anything you will 

 find in the cotton crop or, in fact, any of the cultivated crops which it is known to 

 attack. It seems to prefer the indigenous plants of various kinds, where the later 

 brood and egg laying has a better chance of escaping destruction. 



Summing up all our information, we are forced to conclude that the 

 possible injury to the cotton plant from this insect and those to be dis- 

 cussed beh)w which might easily ))e confused with it, is inconsiderable; 

 and that the shedding usually attributed to' injury by the vague and 

 unknown "shary^shooter" is due to purely natural causes involved in 

 the ph3"siology of the plant. 



DESCKIPTION OF NYAU'U, HV K. 1). BALL. 



Head long, flat, shovel-like as in the adult, but not as much inclined. Vertex flat 

 or slightly concave on the disc, with the margins rounding. Jug;e distinct, shorter 

 than in the adult; front very similar to the adult in the pupje, somewhat flatter in 

 the younger stages. Clypeus rounded. Color pale olivaceous-brown; front pale; 

 arcs on front, a continuation of them on vertex, and a pair of depressions at base of 

 vertex, slightly fuscous. The ocelli appear as pale-reddish spots in the pupa?. 

 Front with median fuscous sti-ipe widest above and fading out on clypeus. There is 

 sometimes a faint median light stripe on abdomen and usually a row of white dots 

 on either side midway to the margin. Legs ])ak', the anterior til)ia' flattened in the 

 later stages; claws dark. 



ONCOMETOI'IA LATKHALIS Fab. 



(Fig. 31.) 



This species has been fully as common in cotton fields investigated 

 by us as the last, l)ut being smaller is not so readily seen. We have 

 never observed the species in large numbers on any of its food plants. 



