204 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE. 



it quite abundantly upon a native species of rose mallow (Hibiscus, sp.)- 

 •and also upon a foreign introduced s])ecies {H. fid gidius). I was in, 

 formed that it was very abundant upon plants of this genus along the 

 Saint John's Eiver. 



The eggs of the cotton-stainer were sent to the department in April, 

 by Mr. H. S. Williams, of Eock Ledge, Fla. They were laid in a group 

 of twenty^one upon the under side of an orange leaf. They were amber 

 colored and oval in shape. The young bugs made their exit through 

 nearly circular holes on the upper side, near one end. The eggs appear 

 smooth and glistening to the naked eye, but an examination with a lens 

 ehows them to be densely covered with hexagonal impressions. The 

 yomig bugs are bright red, with black legs and antennae. In form they 

 resemble the adults, but are wingless. 



As to remedies, the only ones which have been suggested were given 

 by Mr. Glover in the annual report of this department for 1875. Mr. 

 Glover says : 



These insects "being in the hahit of collecting together where there were splinters or 

 fragments of sugar-cane on the ground, advantage was taken of this- fact to dj-aw 

 them together by means of small chips of sugar-cane laid upon the earth near the 

 plants, where they were at once destroyed by means of boiling water. They also col- 

 lect around heaps of cotton-seed, where they may be readily destroyed at the com- 

 mencement of cold weather. Small heaps of refuse trash, dried cornstalks, or especially 

 of crushed sugar-cane may be made in various parts of the plantation in the vicinity 

 of the plants ; under these the insects take shelter from the cold, and when a sufficient . 

 quantity of tlie bugs is thus drawn together, the various heaps may be fired and the 

 insects destroyed with the trash. A very cold morning, however, should be selected, 

 and the fire made before the insects have been thawed into life and vigor by the heat 

 of the sun; and especially all dead trees, rotten stumps, and weeds in the vicinity of 

 the field should be burned or otherwise destroyed, as they afi^ord a comfortable shelter 

 for all sorts of noxious insects. Crushed sugar-cane (bagasse) mixed with some poison 

 (say Paris gxeen), if imbibed by these insects, would no doubt destroy many of them, 

 t)ut might also be taken by domestic poultry or hogs. 



The ill-advisability of planting cotton in close proximity to orange 

 groves will be readily seen, while the necessity of destroying the rose 

 mallows in the vicinity is just as perceptible. I was forcibly strucl-: with 

 the attraction which piles of cotton-seed possess for the bugs, and think 

 it probable that small heaps of this seed in diiferent parts of the grove 

 will prove a most eificient trap for them. I saw this insect gathered in 

 almost incalcuble numbers upon such a heap at Maitland, Fla.; when so 

 gathered they could easily be destroyed by pouring hot water upon them. 



From the color of these insects it was thought many years ago that a 

 serviceable red dye might be made from their expressed juices. Ex- 

 periments were made by Dr. Charles T. Jackson, of Boston, who dis- 

 covered that while no red dye could be obtained, the whole substance of 

 the insect could be converted into a rich orange-yellow dye, which was 

 readily fixed on woolen or silken fabrics by the alum mordant liquor. 

 The cloth, previously boiled in a solution made by adding two ounces of 

 alum to a gallon of water, was dipped into solution of the insects made 

 by dissolving them in boiling nitric acid. After this the cloth was 

 soaked in a solution of half a jjint of ammonia added tb a gallon of 

 water. The yellow color produced also answered excellently as a basis 

 for green and brown dyes.* 



A predacious bug, known as Lep.ocoHza tipidoides Latr., was also fre- 

 quently found upon the orange tree, and bears moreorless of aresemblance 

 to the red-bug in size and coloration. It is slenderer than the red-bug and 

 has longer limbs, its name, tipuloidesj being doubtless given to it from 



• See Dept. of Agr. Ann, Rept., 18.^8, p. 272. 



