This species was first described by Mr. Nathan Banks, of the Bureau 

 of Entomology, in 1900,° from specimens collected on cotton by Prof. 

 H. A. Morgan, of Baton Rouge, La. In 1893-94 it had caused consid- 

 erable damage at Baton Rouge. 6 The pest is very probablj- distrib- 

 uted throughout the entire cotton-growing area of the South, although 

 during late years its occurrence in injurious numbers had not been 

 reported until the summer of 1903, when it caused considerable dam- 

 age to cotton in South Carolina and Georgia. In 1904 red spider was 

 found on several plantations near Batesburg and at other points in 

 South Carolina. During the summer of 1905 many reports of its 

 occurrence were received from points in North Carolina, South Caro- 

 lina, Georgia, and Alabama, and the writer found it in injurious 

 numbers at several localities in these States. 



The first published records of the species appear to be those by 

 Townend Glover, in an article on Cotton Insects published in 1855, c in 

 which he gives a description of the mite and its injuries to cotton under 

 the name of "The Red Spider. Acarusf" and in 1878, d in his Cotton 

 Insects under the name of "cotton rust," again referring the injury to 

 an "acarus." He recommends powdered sulphur or sulphur mixed 

 with slaking lime as remedies. 



LIFE HISTORY. 



When first deposited, the eggs appear as minute translucent pearl- 

 like objects, found only by careful observance on the threads of the 

 web, on the plant hairs beneath it, and more rarely on the epidermis of 

 the leaf itself. As they mature they grow darker, becoming quite 

 opaque, with more or less of a red or greenish tinge. 



The eggs hatch in from three to five days during hot, dry weather, 

 and the young mites commence feeding almost immediately. At this 

 early stage they have but six legs and but few red markings. They 

 reach maturity in from ten to fourteen days after hatching. At 

 maturity the mites vary from specimens with very small red spots to 

 those that are all red on the dorsum and have the legs lightly marked 

 with red dots. The mature mites are eight-legged. According to Mr. 

 Banks, the adults of this species are distinguished by the following 

 characteristics: Bristles of body not arising from tubercles; tarsus 

 with but one claw, which is strongly bent near its middle and four- 

 cleft beyond; three fingers on the tip of the thumb, which is not as long 

 as the claw, the middle finger largest from side view; mandibular plate 

 broad, sides concave near tip and apex truncate or slightly broadly 

 emarginate (fig. 2). 



a 1900: Banks, Tech. Series 8, Bur. Ent., Dept. Agric, pp. 76-77, fig. 15. 

 b 1897: Morgan, Bui. 48, La. Agric. Exp. Sta., pp. 130-135. 

 c 1855: Glover, U. S. Patent Office Rept., p. 79, PI. VI, fig. 7. 

 d 1878: Glover, Cotton Insects, plate 3. 



