FALL NUMBER 89 
age as the pumpkin bug (Nezara viridula), i. e., it punctures the 
rind and the fruit soon drops from the tree and decays. The 
punctures, however, are smaller and entirely invisible to the 
naked eye. There is not the hardening and discoloration of the 
surrounding tissue characteristic of pumpkin bug injury. The 
bugs feed mostly on the oil cells but frequently penetrate to the 
pulp. They are much more restless than the pumpkin bugs and 
do not remain feeding in one spot for hours as the latter fre- 
quently do. They show the same preference for thin-skinned 
varieties of citrus, tangerines being their first choice. They are 
not as apt to feed all night as are the pumpkin bugs, but usually 
collect in colonies on the interior of the tree. Even in the day 
time they are distinctly gregarious, collecting in colonies on 
the leaves and fruit both on the tree and the ground. 
The present outbreak has undoubtedly been brought on by 
the planting of cotton in citrus communities. No outbreak has 
been recorded in communities where no cotton was planted.. The 
adults can fly considerable distances. The writer recently saw 
one heavily infested grove that was three-fourths of a mile from 
the nearest cotton. There were adults only in this grove. An- 
other grove directly across a road from a cotton patch was 
heavily infested with both adults and young. Scattering half 
grown nymphs were seen as far as 800 feet from the cotton. 
The vast majority of these had crawled from the cotton field. 
Indeed, scores were observed in the act of crawling across. 
They travelled in a nearly straight line for the citrus as if they 
smelled it, altho the wind was from another direction. How- 
ever, one colony of very young nymphs was observed that must 
have hatched from eggs laid on fallen oranges. The nymphs 
were but a few days old and were bunched in a compact colony 
after the fashion of newly hatched nymphs of these bugs. It 
is incredible that the colony could have crawled en mass such a 
distance without becoming scattered. A search was made for 
Spanish cockle-burr on which they might have bred but none 
was found. Evidently, they can occasionally breed on citrus, 
altho Hubbard states that they do not do so. 
Evidently the growing of cotton in citrus communities in the 
southern counties should be abandoned. Altho the bugs are 
rather sporadic in their appearance, being abundant some years 
and searce others, the practice involves too great a risk. Hub- 
bard, in “Orange Insects”, warns against the practice. Another 
statement that he makes, however, is erroneous, or at least only 
