The Avocado: Its Insect Enemies. 17 
HOW IT MAY BE CONTROLLED. 
The best means of control is to spray the blossom spikes with 
a poison as soon as any signs of injury to the bloom are detected. 
By spraying with a solution of 13 pounds of powdered arsenate of 
lead to 50 gallons of water the beetles will be killed or forced to 
seek new feeding grounds. It is essential that the spraying outfit 
be equipped with a good agitator, as the poison has a tendency to 
settle rapidly to the bottom of the spray tank unless it is kept in 
suspension by agitation. The spray should be directed at the blos- 
som parts particularly, as the beetles do not attack the dormant 
foliage, and little if any new growth 
is present on the plant at the time 
of blossoming. 
THE AVOCADO LACE-BUG. 
An insect which often is on the 
avocado in considerable numbers 
during the dry winter months is the 
avocado lace-bug.® The group of 
insects to which it belongs gets its 
common name from the characteris- 
tic lacelike pattern of the wings 
(fig. 12). This lace-bug is blackish- 
brown in color and about 2 milli- 
meters (one-twelfth inch) in length. 
The wings covering the body are 
somewhat iridescent and the legs 
are yellowish white. 
CHARACTER OF INJURY. 
Fic. 12.—The avocado lace-bug: Adult. 
> ; greatly enlarged. 
The lace-bug confines its attacks 
to the lower surface of the foliage, where it feeds by extracting the 
juices from the plant. It usually lives in colonies, depositing eggs 
in clusters on the lower surface, which are placed upright in irregular 
rows. The extraction of the juices from the foliage causes a gradual 
destruction of the plant cells, resulting in yellow areas which may 
be observed on the foliage as viewed from above and which indicate 
the presence of the lace-bugs. Where a colony of these insects is 
present, the eggs and the lower surface of the leaf are more or less 
thickly covered by a dark, sticky secretion from the insects (fig. 13). 
The principal injury, however, is the destruction of the leaf cells due 
to the sucking habit of the insects. 
5 Acysta perseae Heid. 
