240 



on what is termed here the Spanish cocklebnr, but I have seen it also ou the poison- 

 ous uij^htshade. Its modest taste seems to have changed of late, and it has found the 

 rich juice of tlie orauge more palatable thau juices of -wild and noxious weeds ; with 

 its long proboscis it pierces the rind of the orange and sucks its sweets until satiated, 

 and every orange thus punctured falls to the ground within three or four days. I 

 have seen every orauge from a full tree on the grouud, the result of the voracious 

 enemy. Five hundred or more of the insects cau be seen on one tree, and a dozen ou 

 one orange. The loss to the grove mentioned above amounted to $500, 



The question is, is there a limit to its depredations and cau it be exterminated ? 



A brief history of its habits, with directions how to destroy it, would be very timely 

 aud prevent much loss. 



This oraugefeediiig babit is tlieo a temporary oue in that it is in- 

 dulged in only while the oranges are ripening and just before picking. 

 During the rest of the year it must feed upon some other food-plant, 

 and if not upon cotton, probably upon some raalvaceous plant allied to 

 it. The statement of Eev. W. F. jSTigels, quoted under the section Food- 

 plants, would indicate that it breeds upon other wild plants, but here 

 there arises a possibility that Mr. Nigels has mistaken some other al- 

 lied insect for the Ked Bug. 



REMEDIES. 



It is very important that the most careful observations should be 

 made in the neighborhood of orange groves subject to the attacks of 

 this insect upon the food-plants other than cotton, upon which it sub- 

 sists during the season prior to its migration to the orauge. 



Up to the present year the orange crop seems to have been only oc- 

 casionally damaged, and this is evidently only when the bugs have enor- 

 mously increased during a favorable season upon their more normal 

 food. These food-plants once discovered for a given locality, a slight 

 examination every year will indicate whether the bugs are increasing 

 unduly, and if this is found to be the case, they can be destroyed in 

 time to prevent the winter damage to oranges. Where cotton is grown 

 near (within a few miles of) the grove, the probabilities are that the 

 bugs will have migrated from the cotton fields after picking, and in such 

 case, and when the bugs seem particularly abundant, it will pay the 

 neighboring orange growers to procure the spraying of the cotton 

 fields with a kerosene emulsion. Where there is absolutely no cotton 

 in the neighborhood, wild malvaceous plants should be watched, and 

 observers should search for whatever other wild |)lants form the food 

 of the bugs. If this suggestion is followed out the damage done to or- 

 anges will undoubtedly be greatly lessened. 



When the oranges are a(;tually being attacked, it is difiicult to fight 

 the insects. Mr. Duncan, in his letter of ISovember 22, stated that one of 

 his neighbors, upon the first appearance of bugs upon his trees, secured 

 a spraying outfit and a quantity of the Hubbard kerosene emulsion and 

 went to work, but gave it up in two days. The emulsion killed the 

 bugs but others kept coming in, and it was impracticable to continu- 



