26 THE FLORIDA BUGGIST 
camphor. If the insect was native to the bayhead what was its 
foodplant there? Those of you who are familiar with our bay- 
heads know that the vegetation there is a bewildering mixture of 
a large number of species of shrubs, herbs and grasses with no 
apparent order or zonation. It was therefore difficult indeed 
to determine the exact host plant. Because it belongs to the same 
family as camphor we naturally suspected the bay itself. There 
are two entirely unrelated genera of plants that are commonly 
called “bays” in Florida. One is a certain small species of Mag- 
nolia of the magnolia family and the other is Persea, or Tamala, 
of the laurel family, the family to which camphor belongs. It 
was, of course, the latter only that was suspected of possibly 
being the host plant of the camphor thrips. However, a thorough 
beating of this plant at Waller failed to reveal the presence of 
the thrips. A fortnight’s vacation spent at Daytona Beach af- 
forded an opportunity to study the bay there, Tamala littoralis 
being one of the most abundant trees on the island. The very 
first tree investigated yielded many of the camphor thrips, both 
adults and larvae. Further investigation showed that the thrips 
was generally distributed thruout the island. It was found 
on trees miles from any camphor and in isolated places to which 
the opportunities of catching a ride must be few. On only a 
few trees, however, was the infestation heavy. It has since been 
found on the same species of bay at Orlando. 
Following the discovery of this thrips on bays and its identi- 
fication on structural grounds as Cryptothrips floridensis, live 
thrips were taken to the laboratory and transferred to camphor. 
Vice versa thrips collected from camphor were transferred to 
bay. In both cases the insects fed with avidity on the new host. 
They seemed to have no choice whatever as between camphor and 
bay, provided the leaves or twigs were of an equal age. We 
have not as yet had an opportunity to study their behavior in the 
field where bays and comphor are growing side by side. 
There can then, it would seem, be no doubt but that the native 
bays of the genus Tamala are the native hosts of the camphor 
thrips which is a native insect that has spread to the camphor 
wherever opportunity offered. Its uneven distribution over the 
state and its absence from many camphor hedges and trees is to 
be explained by the remoteness of the uninfested trees from 
bays and lack of transportation facilities. 
These developments lead to a reexamination of the specimen 
from Ceylon, for if the insect is a native of Florida, feeding on 
