REPORT OF THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 203 



ington and colonized on orange trees in the breeding-room. In tliis way 

 wc have hoen able to watcli the de\'eIopment of all of the uinrc im])oi"-, 

 taut species from the egg to the adult state. Especial attention bas 

 l)ecn given to the "'scale" insects," and the life histories of the more im- 

 portant Florida species have been Avorked np. Vfe give in this report 

 only a few of the facts thus learned, as vre have been unable, through 

 lack of time, to prepare for the press the greater part of the material at 

 hand. We hope during the coming year to visit other parts of our 

 orange-growing sections, and to conduct a series of experiments with 

 remedies. A full report on this subject will be prepared as soon as prac- 

 ticable. 



THE COTTON STAINER ON ORANGE. 



{JDysiJermis stifurellus, H. Schf.) 



Order HemipterA; family Cecigenae. 



Puncturing tlie vincls of oranges and sucking their juice, causing tliom to decay and 

 fall to tlie ground; rod-bugs, 17""". (.G7 iucli) in length, with tlie segments of the 

 body margined with white, and with dark wing-covers. 



From time immemorial the so-called "cotton stainer" or ''red-bug" 

 has been one of the worst pests with which the cotton i^lanters of Florida 

 and the West Indies have had to contend, and it would be difficult to 

 estimate the immense loss it has occasioned. It does much damage by 

 piercing the stems and bolls with its beak and sucking the sap, but the 

 principal injury to the crop is from the staining of the cotton in the 

 opening bolls by its excrement. 



Quite recently, however, it has developed a habit which bids fair to 

 place it much nearer the front in the ranks of our injurious insects even 

 than it has been before. My attention was first called to it by a letter 

 from Mr. S. W. Carson, of Fort ]!deade, Fla., dated December 18, 1879, 

 from which the following is an extract : 



I send you to-day some bugs which are excessively injurious to sweet oranges after 

 they ripen. The tree from which these wore taken had thousands on it. They set 

 to sucking, and never cease until the rind is punctured to the pulp; and soon decay 

 sets in, and the fruit drops. Scores will fall off in twenty-four hours. We are ruined 

 in the orange culture if they continue. 



In consequence of this letter from Mr. Carson, we endeavored to find, 

 during a subsequent trip to Florida, instances of similar injuries ; but 

 are unable to report any from personal observations. However, the 

 red-bug was repeatedly jiointed out to us by men of intelligence and 

 accurate observation as being an insect which infests oranges in the 

 manner described. The principal injury seems to have been done where 

 cotton was planted in close i)roximity to the orange groves. Mr. Sam- 

 son, of Micanopy, informed us that one season he planted cotton between 

 the rows of his grove, and lost nine-tenths of his crop of oranges in con- 

 sequence. Some trees shed every orange. He stated that the puncture 

 of the bug looked like a mosquito bite, a minute sting, about which 

 the orange char.ged color, becoming yellow (the orange being green). 

 Later the orange would drop, and upon examination the pulp would be 

 found to be rotten. 



I first met with the cotton-stainer at Eock Ledge. It was then quite 

 common on the leaves of guava, which were infested by a mealy bug 

 {Dactylojnus, sp.). The cotton-stainers were feeding busily, but whether 

 it was upon the sweet excretion of the mealy bug or upon the leaves of 

 the plant, I was unable to judge. At Maitland, Orange County, I found 



